September 2024
Child food insecurity occurs when children lack the resources needed to enable dependable access to enough food for a healthy, active lifestyle. Food-insecure families are often unable to afford nutritious foods in sufficient quantity for all family members. Conversely, everyone in a food secure household has consistent access to healthy meals and no one worries about affording groceries or running out of food.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) released updated information that, nationwide, about 17% of all U.S. households with children (13.4 million kids) were grappling with food insecurity in 2022. Since this number is a calculation of “households” it does not include families without homes, meaning the actual number of children impacted by food insecurity, is likely even higher. AECF suggests two factors that fueled this change were rising food costs and the expiration of pandemic relief measures, such as the child tax credit.
