The Impact of Cuts to Child and Poverty Programs Under DOGE

Snap -TANF and WIC Programs Could Be Impacted

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

These budget cuts — they’re not abstract policies debated in some far-off committee room. They are the difference between whether a child eats lunch at school or goes hungry. Whether a struggling mom can afford diapers or has to choose between food and electricity. Whether a little one gets a shot at early education or falls behind before they even reach first grade.

I don’t know how we got here, but I do know this: If we keep gutting the programs that help kids survive, we are choosing to let them fail. And as a mom, I just can’t accept that.

Under the Department of Government and Education (DOGE), critical programs that help low-income families have been slashed. And no, they’re not cutting the fat — they’re cutting the lifelines.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP): Cuts to free and reduced-price meals mean millions of kids are now going without food during school. And in some districts, that school meal might have been their only meal that day.

I try not to imagine my own kids sitting in class, their stomachs growling while they try to learn. I picture them watching their classmates eat while they sit with nothing. I feel the helplessness of a mother who doesn’t have another dollar to stretch and has to send her child to school hungry, hoping a teacher might sneak them an extra granola bar. And it breaks me. I know what this is like because I was that kid on the program growing up. I only paid 10 cents or 40 cents for breakfast or lunches.

It was heartbreaking to not be able to find the .10 cents on the way to school, because mom didn’t get up and give me food or instructions or money before I left.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Budget reductions mean fewer families qualify for food assistance. That means more kids going to bed with empty stomachs. More parents crying in the grocery store parking lot because they just don’t have enough.

These are our neighbors. The kids in our children’s classrooms. Maybe even us.

Head Start and Early Head Start Programs: These programs give low-income kids a chance at a solid early education, but with funding cut, thousands of kids are being turned away.

And what happens when you take education away from kids who already have so much stacked against them? You keep them stuck in a cycle of poverty. You tell them, Sorry, kid, this country isn’t going to invest in your future. It’s despicable. Right? We are all thinking it?

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): This is supposed to be the emergency support system for families in crisis, but with funding slashed, even that little bit of help is harder to get.

I think about the moms fleeing abusive homes, the single parents juggling two jobs and still not making enough, the families one crisis away from homelessness. What happens when they have nowhere left to turn? WE now just abandon them?

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): These grants fund local programs like food pantries, after-school care, and housing support. Without them, entire communities lose their safety nets. Under the new administration these places will fail or fund themselves at the cost of the people who they seek to help.

The message seems clear: If you’re struggling, you’re on your own.

These cuts aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They are real kids, real families, real futures. And if we don’t start paying attention — if we don’t start fighting for these programs to be restored — our children will grow up in a country that doesn’t care if they sink or swim.

And I don’t know about you, but I refuse to let my kids inherit a world that cruel.

This is your moment. Speak up. 💙🔥

Drop a comment below — let’s talk healing, boundaries, and bossing up. 🔥

Thank you for coming on this healing journey with me — As always I am still not an AI

Real human with emotions

signature from Canva made by Chrystal — Momma of twins — Thread’s Growth Coach

Chrystal Brotherson

Sources

1. “Childhood Hunger in America: Trends and Solutions,” Feeding America, 2025.
2. “The Impact of TANF Cuts on Low-Income Families,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2025.

Originally Posted on NEWSBREAK