The first and most straightforward option that may contribute to the solution of the food scarcity issue is the expansion of government programs intended for this purpose. Initiatives such as SNAP and WIC exist already with the express purpose of helping people who struggle to provide themselves and their families with adequate nutrition. As such, if they appear to be underperforming and failing to achieve their objective, a review and possible changes are advisable. With that said, an expansion of public food provision programs is unlikely to be the most effective option due to the costs that it will likely incur. Moreover, it will be associated with organizational inertia that will delay the effects of the change, which is concerning given the urgency of the problem. Overall, while a review and improvement of the existing public options will likely be beneficial, it cannot be used as the primary solution.
Another option is to provide out-of-home care for children, whether using existing systems such as kindergartens and schools or through dedicated care facilities. Such an initiative can be public as well as private, which provides it with valuable flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing local circumstances. Moreover, there is already precedent for effective out-of-home care programs in nations such as Australia (Fernandez et al., 2019). Adolescents whose health is judged to be at risk due to nutrition or other issues are temporarily removed from their family’s household and entrusted to an alternate carer. They then return home once the matter is considered resolved and the family is believed capable of preventing the problem from resurfacing.
With that said, out-of-home care also introduces several issues, many of which are related to the scale of the changes that will be necessary. The introduction or expansion of an effective oversight system that can identify issues in children before they develop to a dangerous degree, as well as a corresponding care infrastructure, is likely to be expensive and time-consuming. Parental consent is another concern, as many families are unlikely to be willing to relinquish their children to the authority and discretion of another, unfamiliar individual or organization. Moreover, separation from their family may be harmful to the child’s mental health, especially if they are too young to understand the reason for the procedure. The final issue, as described by Fernandez et al. (2019), is the potential difficulty in returning the child home safely. Parents may have ongoing problems that complicate safe reunification, in which case the adolescent will effectively be relegated to the carer for an extended period, which is not a desirable outcome.
The final option for a solution that will be discussed here is improved education, both for families who struggle with food scarcity and for the general population. Consumption of unhealthy processed foods is an issue for many people facing poverty, as those products tend to be cheap compared to other options. However, they also tend to be unhealthy and do not provide the nutrition an organism, especially a growing one such as that of a child, requires. Education about these needs accompanied by discussion of inexpensive healthy meals that satisfy them and ensure a healthy upbringing for a child can help alleviate the food scarcity issue at a low cost relative to other options. Additionally, Parekh et al. (2021) claim that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, currently, food hoarding is a substantial contributor to its scarcity, especially as it pertains to wastage due to failure to store said food and consume it promptly. Public education regarding these matters can help salvage efforts by persuading people to contribute food they cannot eat before it spoils people in need.
Overall, the final option presented, the provision of information regarding nutrition and food storage appears to be the most realistic solution as well as the one that seems to be the most effective. With responsible management of what one consumes, it is possible to maintain children’s health even if their family struggles with poverty and other associated issues. At the same time, the efforts can be supplemented with aid programs such as SNAP, which should also focus on providing healthy options to families. Lastly, in particularly severe cases, out-of-home care should be explored as an option using the existing framework of the CPS. In the longer term, the latter two options should be reinforced with a focus on greater efficiency and flexibility.
Overall, food scarcity appears to be a considerable problem in Montgomery County, one that has been exacerbated by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic impact. It affects children particularly strongly, as their growing bodies can develop a variety of lifelong issues if not supplied with proper calories and micronutrients. Adolescents from families struggling with poverty are affected particularly strongly, as their parents often cannot afford health-promoting food. With that said, the issue may also be caused in some part by a lack of nutrition knowledge that drives the purchase of unhealthy foods. Education on this matter, as well as some others, can help alleviate the food scarcity concern, though other, more physical solutions should also be considered.
References
Fernandez, E., Delfabbro, P., Ramia, I., & Kovacs, S. (2019). Children returning from care: The challenging circumstances of parents in poverty. Children and Youth Services Review, 97, 100-111.
Parekh, N., Ali, S. H., O’Connor, J., Tozan, Y., Jones, A. M., Capasso, A., Foreman, J., & DiClemente, R. J. (2021). Food insecurity among households with children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from a study among social media users across the United States. Nutrition Journal, 20(1), 1-11.