Topics Related to Child and Family Well-Being

Access to nutritious food is foundational for overall health and well-being. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services offers several programs to support individuals’ access to healthy food, including Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Changes are coming to these two programs due to the end of the federal public health emergency on May 11, 2023.

Gov. Cooper has declared April as the "Month of the Young Child" and April 1-7 as the "Week of the Young Child," encouraging all North Carolinians to support efforts that increase children and family access to high-quality early childhood education.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is cautioning families about certain infant formula that has been recalled by Perrigo for potentially containing a bacteria that can lead to illness in infants.

School staff, mental health professionals and the community can learn how to expand support for K-12 students and families experiencing mental and behavioral health issues in a webinar from 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, March 15. The webinar is hosted by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the i2i Center for Integrative Health.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to operate the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program during the 2022-23 school year.

Babies born in North Carolina will now be screened for two additional disorders, along with the other disorders screened for by the NC Department of Health and Human Services’ Newborn Screening Program. Newborns will now be screened for two Lysosomal Storage Disorders — Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I) and Pompe Disease.

In North Carolina and nationally, emergency allotments for COVID-19 in the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) program will end in March 2023. Households that have been receiving extra FNS benefits (called "emergency allotments") each month since March 2020 or after will see a reduction in benefits because of a federal change that ends emergency allotments for all states.

This winter and spring, 130 public schools across North Carolina will receive mental and behavioral health training and consultation through the North Carolina Psychiatry Access Line (NC-PAL).

Older adults and people with disabilities can now apply for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Low Income Energy Assistance Program. The state began accepting applications from this group of residents on Dec. 1.

With food prices rising, more North Carolina families with young children are using benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to access healthy, nutritious food.