Families that are living on low incomes are spending a lot of their income on diapers. There are no state or federal safety net programs that help provide diapers, You can’t use food stamps on diapers and so this program is to create a little room in the budget so that struggling families trying to make ends meet can have help accessing diapers and meeting this critical need. And if that need goes unmet, hard choices, like less frequent changes, can lead to consequences for both baby and parents.
“We have seen the most horrific cases of diaper rash because women and men change on a set schedule as opposed to when there’s need because they just don’t have enough,” said Executive Director Connie Mercer “The kind of shame that women feel, that a parent feels when they can’t keep baby clean is overwhelming.”
And there’s something else to consider, at first glance, a diaper may not seem like a key ingredient to getting a job, but daycare programs require diapers, and most say the parents have to provide them.
“This is about helping parents work. If children need access to disposable diapers to attend a daycare program, without those diapers, parents can’t go to work. Childcare is a critical link to help families get to work and diapers are a key part of that,” Mercer says.
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