Low-Income Families With Special Needs Children at a Higher Risk of Food Insecurity: Study

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A new study suggests that low-income families with children who have special health care needs are at higher risk of food insecurity.

Food insecurity is the "the inability to afford enough food for an active and healthy life for all household members; or child food insecurity, a severe form of food insecurity when resources in the household are so constrained that children's meals need to be skipped or include less expansive and lower quality (thus less nourishing) foods."

A new study revealed that low-income families with children with special health care needs (SHCN) are at higher risk of food insecurity even if they receive Supplementary Security Income (SSI) and participate in public assistance programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), EurekAlert reported.

Per MedicalXpress, children with chronic health, physical, developmental and behavioral conditions are classified as having "special health care."

A 2011 report revealed that 11.4 percent of children in the U.S. under five years old were categorized as children with special health care needs. These kids require significant medical care and assistance.

Their specific diet is often expensive, which adds another burden to their family who are already struggling with their means of living. This condition leads to household insecurity.

Per the report, a low-income family with a child with SHCN has expensive nutritional or formula requirement due to diabetes or neurological impairment. These conditions may not qualify them for a SNAP benefit. Thus, the family has to cut on their healthy food options to compensate the increasing nutritional expenses of the child with SHCN, resulting for food insecurity in the household.

"Providing for children with SHCN can result in financial hardship, which disproportionately - and negatively - impacts low-income families," said Ruth Rose-Jacobs, ScD, a research scientist from the department of pediatrics at BMC and associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.

The study was conducted between 2013 and 2015 where they surveyed caregivers about their participation in public assistance programs, child's healthcare needs and food insecurity. They learned that 14.8 percent screened positive for SHCN did not receive SSI, which could have helped them offset their expenses.

Households with children with SHCN were more likely to experience household and child food insecurity than those without SHCN. Within the group of households with children with SHCN, those who received SSI were more likely to report household but not child food insecurity compared to those households who did not receive SSI.

"We were surprised to see that after controlling for SNAP and WIC receipt, low-income families receiving SSI for a child with SHCN were more likely to experience household food insecurity than those who did not receive SSI," Rose-Jacobs said.

The researchers are suggesting to re-evaluate the criteria for households with children with SHCN and apply for SNAP and WIC.