As the largest SNAP cuts in the program’s history have taken effect around the country, at least 1.5 million children have stopped receiving food assistance. The consequences go beyond hunger. Research suggests that when families lose access to food assistance, they may face a greater risk of investigation by child protective services — and, ultimately, being separated.
That is because poverty and neglect are too often conflated in America’s child welfare systems. When parents cannot afford enough food, stable housing, child care, or other necessities, the conditions created by poverty can bring them to the attention of child protective services. Cutting material support can therefore create a perverse and devastating cycle: The government takes away resources families need to care for their children, and then the child welfare system may intervene because families don’t have the resources to provide for their children.
