Published October 20, 2026

Healthy nutrition in children’s earliest years supports their lifelong health and development. Many federal programs are designed to help ensure all families can afford healthy food. Historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have reduced the support many families with young children rely on to afford food. Potential reductions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) would further reduce support. These cuts come as the cost of groceries and other basic needs continues to rise, leaving families with less help to afford food that costs more. 

At the same time, the federal government has stopped measuring food insecurity. In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) canceled its annual Household Food Security Report, ending 30 years of federal data on national hunger and food access. Without this report, policymakers, advocates, and organizations have less information for understanding and addressing food insecurity. 

Data from the RAPID Survey Project help fill this gap. Based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, RAPID documents the experiences of families with children under age 6 in real time. Since 2020, RAPID surveys have asked parents and child care providers across the country about their economic circumstances, emotional well-being, and access to food and other basic needs. RAPID’s data on the experiences of families with young children, combined with expertise in food and nutrition policy and advocacy from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), provide timely information to help make decisions that support young children and their caregivers and communities. 

A third of surveyed families with children under age 6 experience food insecurity.  

RAPID measures food insecurity using the same validated six-item USDA scale the federal government used in its annual report of national food insecurity. Parents who report experiencing two or more of the following are considered food insecure: 

  • “The food that we bought just didn’t last, and we didn’t have money to get more.” 
  • “We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.” 
  • “Did you or other adults in your household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?” 
  • “How often did this happen?” 
  • “Did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food?” 
  • “Were you ever hungry but didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough money for food?” 

In its July 2026 national survey, RAPID surveyed approximately 600 parents of children under age 6 and more than 400 child care providers across the country about meeting basic needs, including food. Almost one in three surveyed parents (29 percent) reported food insecurity. Since RAPID began asking parents about food insecurity, families with young children have consistently reported it, averaging 25 percent between August 2025 and January 2026. 

Responses to RAPID’s open-ended questions give further insight into how families are experiencing food insecurity. Parents described cutting back on meals, skipping meals, going without food, and worrying whether they could provide healthy, nutritious food for their children. One parent in Texas shared, “[My biggest challenge right now is] feeding them [my children] a good nutritional meal each and every day.”  

Some parents described going without so their children could eat. A parent in Utah wrote, “Honestly, cutting back on what I eat to ensure the others in the house have enough [helps the most right now].” Another parent in California wrote, “I’ll go eating only one or two meals a day to make sure my girls have food.” 

Food insecurity is driven by a mix of factors, including the cost of groceries, the level of funding for federal and state nutrition programs, and the reach of community resources such as food banks. In difficult economic times, essential nutrition programs need more substantial funding to help families afford food, but instead face cuts. Additional cuts to vital nutrition programs would reduce support for families already struggling to afford enough food. As one parent in Oklahoma put it, “It’s getting harder to afford a lot of groceries.” A parent in Illinois wrote, “The most affordable food options definitely aren’t that healthy.”  

For families who can access them, federal nutrition programs provide essential support. One parent in California wrote, “Receiving food stamps helps keep food on the table.” Eligibility for these programs can also change as children grow. A parent in Tennessee wrote, “[My biggest concern is] not being able to have enough food money. My daughter ages out of WIC this year.” 

Child Care Providers for Families With Young Children Report Hunger 

Families with young children depend on child care providers, and RAPID data show that many providers experience food insecurity themselves. This is true across roles and settings, a pattern RAPID has documented over time. Among providers surveyed in July 2026, more than half (51 percent) of family, friend, and neighbor providers, 29 percent of center teachers, 28 percent of center directors, and 23 percent of home-based providers reported food insecurity.  

In their open-ended question responses, providers described similar challenges to those families reported, including limited supports and increased costs. One provider in Indiana explained, “[My biggest challenge is] being able to meet the expenses that we have each month. Everything just keeps increasing. There is only so much that a family can do.” A provider in California described, “[My] biggest challenge now is the cost of gasoline and groceries.” A provider in Ohio described relying on emergency food assistance: “Food cost is so high, if it wasn’t for the food pantry, I don’t know what I would do.” 

These providers care for young children during critical developmental years. Food insecurity is associated with poor health and well-being in adults, which can affect providers’ ability to sustain this essential work. 

Food Policies and Programs Can Support Children and Caregivers 

The RAPID data show food insecurity reaching both families with young children and the child care providers who care for them. This comes as the federal government has stopped tracking hunger, and recent changes to federal nutrition programs threaten to further reduce food support. Passed in July 2025, the budget reconciliation law (H.R. 1) slashed SNAP, the nation’s first line of defense against hunger, by $187 billion and introduced harmful provisions that will reduce access. Affected families are estimated to lose an average of $146 in SNAP benefits per month, about $1,752 a year. One year later, over 5 million people, including many households with children, have lost access to the nutrition they need at a time when gas and grocery costs are rising. When families lose SNAP, children also may lose access to WIC and other child nutrition programs that use SNAP participation to streamline eligibility. Congress must take immediate action to repeal the devastating cuts and harmful impacts included in H.R. 1.  

Amid these cuts and rising costs, it is even more important to strengthen the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which helps child care providers serve nutritious meals and snacks. Improvements such as increasing the reimbursement rates so they reflect the full cost of healthy food and meal preparation, eliminating the tiering reimbursement model, and streamlining the program would improve children’s access to nutritious food while helping stabilize the child care providers families rely on. 

Strengthening and Protecting Federal Nutrition Programs  

Children’s earliest years are when nutrition shapes long-term development, and consistent access to food supports children’s health and growth. A large body of research links SNAP to lower food insecurity and better health for young children, and shows that more adequate benefits and easier enrollment make the program more effective. SNAP also opens the door to WIC and other nutrition programs, so maintaining it helps families reach the full range of support their children are eligible to receive. When rising costs make food harder to afford, these programs help ensure young children still get the nutrition their development depends on. Policymakers can build on this evidence, and on what families themselves voice, to strengthen the programs that help young children grow up well-nourished. 

Philip Fisher, PhD, is the Diana Chen Professor of Early Childhood in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, home of the RAPID Survey Project. 

Clarissa Hayes is FRAC’s deputy director, Child Nutrition Programs & Policy.