Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Policy, Benefit Design, and Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review

Background and Purpose: Child maltreatment remains a critical public health issue, with economic hardship and food insecurity identified as important structural drivers. This study is grounded in the Family Stress Model, which posits that economic instability increases caregiver stress and diminishes the capacity to meet a child’s basic needs, thereby increasing the risk of neglect and abuse. While the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest nutrition safety net in the U.S., its role as a population-level prevention strategy for child maltreatment has not been systematically evaluated. This review addresses this gap by synthesizing evidence on how SNAP participation, benefit levels, and state-level policy variations affect child welfare outcomes, speaking directly to current child welfare priorities in prevention, policy design, and structural equity.

Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines and a pre-registered PROSPERO protocol (ID: 1077972), we conducted a systematic search across five databases, identifying studies that examined associations between SNAP and child welfare outcomes: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, and EMBASE for studies published through May 2025. Eligible studies were required to be peer-reviewed, conducted in the U.S., and report quantitative child maltreatment outcomes (e.g., CPS reports, substantiations, or foster care entries). From an initial 2,298 records, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Methodological rigor was evaluated using the NIH Study Quality Assessment Tool, focusing on confounding control, exposure measurement, and potential selection bias.

Results: Evidence consistently indicates that more generous SNAP policies—such as eliminating asset tests and expanding eligibility through Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility—are associated with significant reductions in child protective services (CPS) investigations, with estimates ranging from 4 to 7 fewer investigations per 1,000 children annually, as well as decreases in substantiated cases and foster care entries. Complementing this, higher SNAP benefit levels have also been linked to reductions in investigation risk, with one simulation study estimating a 3.7% to 4.4% decrease. In contrast, administrative procedures that introduce instability, such as staggered benefit issuance, were associated with increased maltreatment reports, suggesting a potential role for administrative burden. Across studies, protective effects were most consistently observed for neglect outcomes. Overall, the risk of bias across the included studies was assessed as moderate to low, with the majority of the 10 included studies employing rigorous quasi-experimental designs.

Conclusions and Implications: Conclusions and Implications: These findings provide preliminary evidence that SNAP may serve as a population-level strategy for preventing child maltreatment, particularly neglect. SNAP implementation matters as much as benefit generosity, and administrative accessibility and policy consistency are important for family stability. Social work practitioners and policymakers should consider integrating nutritional supports into broader child protection frameworks. However, given reliance on administrative data and the limited number of studies, further research using individual-level data is needed to better understand causal mechanisms and long-term impacts across diverse populations. Future research must also untangle whether reductions in CPS involvement reflect true decreases in maltreatment or changes in state surveillance patterns. The presentation will highlight practical implications for child welfare policy, anti-poverty programs, and prevention-oriented social work practice.