Did you know that WIC serves all types of families? The name “Women, Infants, Children” can be deceiving. We serve any child from birth until the age of five regardless of the relationship to their legal guardian. The only requirement is that their legal guardian, whether permanent or temporary, enrolls in WIC with the child.

In celebration of National Adoption Month, we’ll highlight a couple of special types of  families that may result in the adoption of a child: foster and kinship.

Foster Families

Foster children automatically qualify for WIC, regardless of the foster parents’ income. Each foster child gets their own WIC card. For example, if the foster family uses WIC themselves, they’ll have two cards: one for their family, and one for the child. If a family has multiple foster children, they’ll have a card for each.

For foster information in Weld County, check out this page.

Kinship Families

Families who have kinship custody of a child can use WIC, too. For kinship custody, we’ll check to see if the family uses food stamps (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), OR if the child has Medicaid. In any of these situations, the family automatically qualifies for the program.

It may be that the guardian family does not use these programs and the child does not have Medicaid. If that is the case, we will check the family’s income to see if they qualify for WIC financially. The child will be part of the family’s account if they already use WIC, and will not receive their own card.

Lastly, along with the typical address, income (if applicable), and identification documents necessary for WIC enrollment, we’ll look at the documents related to guardianship for enrollment onto the program.

Check out Weld County’s kinship page, along with the State’s Kinship Connection for more information on kinship care.