Poster #98 - Diaper Need: Recommended Strategies for Addressing this Pervasive Public Health Concern

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Over one-third of families with young children between the ages of 0-4 experience diaper need, defined as a family’s inability to afford enough diapers to keep their children clean and healthy. Diaper need is most common among younger parents and those with lower incomes and limited education, over 50% of whom report diaper need (Belarmino et al., 2022). Public assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) do not include diapers as eligible items for purchase within their benefit structure. The only governmental program that allows for the purchase of diapers is the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), although this program has severely restricted its reach and value in recent decades (CBPP, 2022).

The government safety net designed to catch children before they slip through the cracks is failing, and as a result, diaper need has gone unaddressed, imposing harm on young children and their families in a myriad of ways, from negatively affecting children’s health, to limiting parental economic and mental wellbeing. Studies have shown that diaper need is associated with increased risk of diaper rash and urinary tract infections (Porter & Steefel, 2015). Additionally, children experiencing diaper need are less likely to participate in early care and education programs, as most programs require parents send their children with a sufficient supply of diapers. A lack of reliable childcare can impede parents’ ability to get to work, thus creating further financial strain on the family unit. Diaper need also is associated with poorer parental mental health and wellbeing.

We review a set of six policies and programs to address this public health concern. We explore federal, state, and local programs and policies from a feasibility and effectiveness lens, considering implementation effort, cost, and effectiveness, including the following: (1) Policies that aim to give low-income individuals more power over how they use government resources, like creating more flexible spending within SNAP and WIC (e.g., NJ A3544, 2022). Policies that aim to provide individuals an increase in monthly income through (2) relatively small steps like eliminating diaper sales tax to (3) providing an additional monthly diaper subsidy to TANF recipients to (4) larger infusion efforts like the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), shown to lower child poverty rates by 40% (Pathak, 2021). Finally, (5) diaper banks, run by local nonprofit agencies, and (6) coordination efforts between diaper banks and Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programs have emerged as promising mechanisms to address the issue of diaper need by distributing diapers directly to families with diaper need. We review early evidence on the effectiveness of these programs and policies suggesting that they can help promote health literacy among families, reduce diaper rash, and lead to increased happiness and lower economic stress among parents. We conclude with recommendations for a multi-pronged legislative strategy to address the pressing problem of diaper need across the U.S., and provide policy makers with necessary information to take immediate action.

Authors

• Lindsay Lanteri, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Rebekah Levine Coley, Boston College