Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword: The Essential Role of Youth Development by Robert H. Bruininks
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Early Childhood Development and Human Capital
- PART I PRENATAL AND INFANT PROGRAMS
- 2 WIC Turns 35: Program Effectiveness and Future Directions
- 3 The Nurse-Family Partnership: From Trials to Practice
- 4 Carolina Abecedarian Project
- 5 Early Head Start Impacts at Age 3 and a Description of the Age 5 Follow-Up Study
- PART II PRESCHOOL EDUCATION
- PART III KINDERGARTEN AND EARLY SCHOOL-AGE SERVICES AND PRACTICES
- PART IV ECONOMIC SYNTHESES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INVESTMENTS
- Appendix Question-and-Answer Sessions
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
2 - WIC Turns 35: Program Effectiveness and Future Directions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword: The Essential Role of Youth Development by Robert H. Bruininks
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Early Childhood Development and Human Capital
- PART I PRENATAL AND INFANT PROGRAMS
- 2 WIC Turns 35: Program Effectiveness and Future Directions
- 3 The Nurse-Family Partnership: From Trials to Practice
- 4 Carolina Abecedarian Project
- 5 Early Head Start Impacts at Age 3 and a Description of the Age 5 Follow-Up Study
- PART II PRESCHOOL EDUCATION
- PART III KINDERGARTEN AND EARLY SCHOOL-AGE SERVICES AND PRACTICES
- PART IV ECONOMIC SYNTHESES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INVESTMENTS
- Appendix Question-and-Answer Sessions
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods, nutrition education, and social service and health care referrals to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women; infants; and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk. The WIC program is based on the premise that many low-income individuals are at risk of poor nutrition and health outcomes because of insufficient nutrition during the critical growth and development periods of pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood. It is a supplemental food and nutrition program to help meet the special needs of low-income women, infants, and children during these periods. WIC provides three main benefits to participants: (a) supplemental foods; (b) nutrition education, including breastfeeding promotion; and (c) referrals to health care and social service providers.
WIC began as a pilot program in 1972 and was authorized permanently in 1974 (P.L. 94–105). Since then, WIC has become a key component of the nutrition safety net provided for low-income Americans. Today, WIC functions as a vital link in America's public health efforts to ensure that all of the nation's children have the resources they need to thrive. About half of all U.S. infants and a quarter of all U.S. children ages 1 to 5 receive WIC benefits.
The WIC program has been the focus of numerous and varied evaluations. In general, these studies show WIC to be effective, although several methodological issues have been raised about the existing research.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of LifeA Human Capital Integration, pp. 29 - 48Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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