AUSTIN, Texas -- More than two million children are suffering from food insecurity in Texas, where the rate has increased more than 7% since the start of the pandemic.
Harris County, which includes Houston, has 360,000 kids experiencing food insecurity.
Meredith Reid, Texas deputy director for Save the Children, said it's not just affecting urban areas, but also rural areas, which traditionally tend to be underserved.
"In Texas, one of our most rural communities, which is Zavala County; Zavala County has the fourth highest child food insecurity rate in the nation," Reid pointed out, where one in every two children experience food insecurity.
Upon taking office last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow states to increase SNAP benefits, or food stamps, to the lowest-income recipients.
Tamara Sandberg, U.S. advisor for food security and nutrition for Save the Children, noted the organization has distributed more than 200,000 boxes of food through the Farmers to Families Food Box Program offered by the USDA. She said that's about 30 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked meat, and dairy and milk products, in rural communities.
"But what we're seeing is just the amount of people who have never had to have help putting food on the table before that are really struggling because of this pandemic," Sandberg explained.
Hunger impacts children's school performance, and according to Reid, that has required growing new partnerships between nonprofits and school districts to get meals to kids.
"Developing partnerships with churches and other community organizations that are serving children so that now that we can collectively wrap our arms around it, you have to sometimes slow down to speed up, and we've been able to do that," Reid concluded.
Widespread school closures due to COVID-19 have affected many children, but especially the 30 million who rely on free or reduced-price meals.
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Advocates for foster families are pressing lawmakers to save the Family Urgent Response System from the budget ax.
California faces a $37.9 billion deficit and Gov. Gavin Newsom's initial proposal zeros out the program's $30 million budget.
Susanna Kniffen, senior director of child welfare policy for the nonprofit Children Now, said the program provides a 24-hour helpline for foster kids and their caregivers and funds a mobile emergency response unit in all 58 counties.
"We haven't seen a cut like that to foster care in a very long time. Decades," Kniffen pointed out. "Even when there are tough budget decisions to be made, generally you protect your children and you definitely protect your most vulnerable children, which are foster youth."
The state created the program in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, so counties got the mobile response teams up and running starting in 2021. California has about 46,000 children in the foster-care system. The helpline averages about 5,000 calls a year. More than a quarter involve requests for a team to come to the home.
Kniffen noted more and more foster youths and their caregivers are starting to rely on the program for support and conflict mediation.
"We finally started to get youth trusting it and using it and, all of a sudden, we're just sort of pulling the rug out," Kniffen argued. "It's going to be very difficult for the adults in the system but it's going to hit the youth the hardest because this is one of the only options that they have to call and get support for themselves."
This issue will be heard in legislative committees in the State Assembly on April 3, and in the state Senate on April 25. Lawmakers have until June 15 to pass a balanced budget.
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The new National Parent & Youth Helpline has already taken 6,700 calls, texts and live chats since its inception in January, and now the U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill called House Resolution 7812 to fund it permanently.
Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., introduced the bill last Friday.
Lisa Pion-Berlin, president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, which runs the helpline, noted how the service has been helping.
"We have calls about gun violence. We have calls about suicide. We have calls about stress," Pion-Berlin outlined. "We have calls about kids' learning challenges. We have kids who feel lonely and depressed. We know youth suicide is up 20%."
The nation's more than 174 million parents and youths up to age 25 can call or text the helpline at 855-427-2736 to reach a trained counselor for help with emotional issues. People can also join the live chat on the website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Pion-Berlin emphasized the goal is to offer online, weekly, evidence-based emotional support groups to those in need around the country.
"They build what we call protective factors," Pion-Berlin explained. "That's resilience, social support, that's helping people deal with their underlying emotional issues, addresses substance abuse, domestic violence, and helps children flourish."
The bill would allocate $20 million a year to the program. So far it has attracted endorsements from the nonprofits Parents Anonymous, Zero to Three, and the Child Welfare League of America.
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Parents wanting to ensure their children have nutritious meals can serve as their best example, according to new data.
Research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign involved looking at study participants' amount and availability of unhealthy beverages and food in their households. A Home Food Inventory -- a checklist of 190 items in 13 food categories used to monitor the food environment -- found processed foods, candy and microwaveable items were more attainable.
Jenny Barton, assistant research professor for the Center for Childhood Obesity Research at Pennsylvania State University, said the study focused on the physical development of toddlers.
"The two-year-olds in this study are gaining mobility -- they're gaining autonomy -- to be able to walk around the house," Barton pointed out. "And then I think by age four, they are starting to be able to reach for things in the home, in the kitchen."
The home food inventory further examined how the location of fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator, freezer and inside cabinets can hinder a toddler's access to them, how often foods in the household are consumed, and how parents' interaction with their children during a meal affects a child's food habits.
Children often imitate their parents when it comes to food choices. A U.S. Department of Health report said it can take up to 10 attempts before children accept a new food. Barton noted her work followed the consumption of whole grains and refined grains. She concluded refined grains are eaten more often by children because parents tend to buy it more often.
"They're just not purchasing them, to the degree that we would like to see people purchasing whole grains," Barton emphasized. "That's probably helping explain some of that phenomenon in terms of children having similar diets as their parents."
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 report showed unhealthy dietary patterns starting at age 2-18 may lead to obesity and a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease in later life. The publication also advised parents to reduce or eliminate cereals with added sugar, switch from fried to roasted vegetables and substitute high-sodium meats with ground lean meats.
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