Benefits & Updates
Food & Family
SNAP, WIC and TANF — the deductions, income tests and state rules that decide what a household receives.
Articles in this category (18)
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Food & FamilySNAP Benefits: How Much Can You Get and Who Qualifies?
How SNAP works out a monthly amount: gross income, the deductions that reduce it, household size and the maximum allotment. Your state runs the program.
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Food & FamilyWIC: Who It Is For and How to Qualify
WIC serves pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children under five, with an income limit of 185% of the poverty guidelines. Who qualifies and how to apply.
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Food & FamilyTANF Cash Assistance: Can I Get Monthly Cash Help, and How Much?
TANF pays cash rather than food, requires a child in the home, and lets your state set the amount. What the work rules and the five-year clock mean in practice.
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Food & FamilyFree and Reduced-Price School Meals: Who Qualifies
Children at or below 130% of the poverty guidelines get free school meals, and up to 185% reduced-price. How SNAP enrolls them automatically, and when to apply.
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Food & FamilyExpedited SNAP: Getting Food Benefits in 7 Days
Expedited SNAP can put benefits on your EBT card within 7 days. The three situations that qualify, what to ask for when you apply, and what can delay it.
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Food & FamilyWhat You Can Buy With SNAP (and What You Cannot)
What SNAP can buy: any food for the home plus seeds and plants. What it cannot: alcohol, tobacco, vitamins, hot foods, non-food items, and new state soda limits.
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Food & FamilyHelp Paying for Child Care: How the CCDF Works
CCDF child care assistance helps working families pay for care for children under 13. Who is eligible, how state income limits and copayments work, and how to apply.
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Food & FamilyHead Start and Early Head Start: Who Can Enroll
Head Start and Early Head Start are free for children from birth to age 5. Who is eligible, the income guideline, who qualifies regardless, and how to apply.
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Food & FamilyChild Support Services: How to Get Help
Child support agencies locate parents, establish paternity, set and enforce orders, and collect payments. Who can apply, how to sign up, and what to expect.
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Food & FamilySNAP Recertification: How to Renew Benefits Without a Gap
SNAP benefits end when your certification period does unless you renew. Learn the 15th-day rule, what the interview covers and what to do if benefits stop.
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Food & FamilySNAP for College Students: Eligibility and Exemptions
Most students ages 18 to 49 in college at least half time cannot get SNAP unless they meet an exemption. See the exemptions, how to prove one and what else counts.
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Food & FamilyNeed Food This Week? How to Find Emergency Food Help
Out of food and out of money? Call 211 or the National Hunger Hotline, visit a pantry, and apply for expedited SNAP. A step-by-step guide to the fastest help.
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Food & FamilyRaising a Grandchild or Relative's Child: Benefits You Can Claim
Raising a grandchild, niece or nephew? See the child-only TANF grant, Medicaid, SNAP, kinship navigators, guardianship payments and tax breaks you may qualify for.
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Food & FamilyNew Baby Checklist: Benefits, Coverage and Tax Breaks to Claim
Having a baby? Add a Social Security number, health coverage, WIC, tax credits and a Trump Account, each with its own deadline. A checklist of what to do and when.
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Food & FamilyFood Help for Older Adults: Senior Food Boxes, Meals, Market Coupons and SNAP
Four federal food programs for people 60 and older compared: monthly CSFP food boxes, farmers market coupons, Older Americans Act meals and SNAP's senior rules.
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Food & FamilyYour EBT Card: Checking the Balance, Replacing a Lost Card and Stopping Theft
How to check your SNAP balance, what to do the moment an EBT card is lost or stolen, why skimmed benefits may not be replaced and how to protect your card.
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Food & FamilyAdopting a Child: The Adoption Tax Credit, Adoption Assistance and Other Help
The adoption tax credit is now partly refundable. Who can claim it, the special needs rule, when to claim, and the adoption assistance for children from foster care.
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Food & FamilyDomestic Violence Survivors: Help With Food, Cash, Housing and Health Coverage
How survivors of domestic violence can get SNAP as their own household, TANF good cause waivers, housing protections under VAWA, health coverage and a new number.