Countywide : Cutbacks Affect Needy Children

Thousands of needy Orange County infants may be deprived of nutritional assistance as a result of cutbacks in a county-administered food program, officials said Tuesday.

Program directors on Monday began turning away hundreds of babies of low-income families--including those babies judged at medical risk--who might otherwise have been eligible for the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Food Program. Known as WIC, the 16-year-old, federally funded program provides food and educational assistance.

Infants already enrolled in the program will be able to get assistance until their first birthday, said Michelle van Eyken, program coordinator.

Van Eyken said the cutbacks were made because funding has not kept pace with the steep increase in the number of women and children using the program.

The WIC program, administered by the County Health Care Agency, is contracted to serve 15,500 participants a month. However, caseloads have averaged significantly more than that, Van Eyken said. Last month more than 15,800 participants were enrolled, she said.

“There are a lot of low-income people in Orange County and the numbers are going up, not down,” she said.

As a result, the state Department of Health Services, which disperses federal funds for the program, told Orange County officials they would have to reduce services.

Monday’s cutback was only the latest in a series of restrictions in the program in Orange County.

Under WIC guidelines, eligibility extends to all low-income women who are pregnant, breast feeding or who have delivered within the last three months. Children under 5 who are undernourished are also eligible. However, in Orange County, postpartum women who are not breast feeding became ineligible last year.

In April, the county stopped serving all children. Only medically at-risk pregnant women will now be allowed to enroll.

Social welfare officials said the cutbacks could have a dramatic impact on the health of poor families which already have limited health and food options.

The prospect of a statewide funding shortfall in the WIC program prompted a meeting among state officials Tuesday to consider possible alternative sources of funding to prevent further cutbacks.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides the funding, said a higher-than-expected inflation rate for food prices in California, combined with increased participation in the program statewide, contributed to a shortfall of $14.5 million for the current fiscal year.

“We are looking at our options right now, trying to determine if we can readjust some other funding mechanism,” said state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who in February--before the current funding crisis--introduced a bill that would supplement the WIC program with $4 million in state money.

The bill, SB 2038, passed the Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee last week.

WIC is one of the few social welfare programs proven to be cost effective, Bergeson noted, citing a Harvard University study that found that every dollar spent in the program means a savings of $3 in future health care costs.

“That is why the cuts in Orange County are drastic and will have a severe effect, especially on children,” Bergeson said.