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By Aliss Higham
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A major shift in federal food assistance is set to take effect next month—and experts warn it could leave families with teenagers struggling to put food on the table.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed by Congress earlier this year, tightens the work rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by narrowing who qualifies for an exemption from the program’s strict time limits. Under current rules, able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) can only receive SNAP benefits for three months in a three-year period unless they meet specific work requirements.
Previously, parents or guardians caring for children under 18 were exempt from those limits, but the new law lowers that cutoff to age 14—a change that food policy and family welfare experts say could remove vital support from families with teenage children who still depend on their parents for care.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP, confirmed in a memo that state SNAP programs need to begin complying with the new rule starting from November 1.
Around 42 million Americans rely on SNAP to afford groceries. According to the USDA, 13.4 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2023, the latest year for which data is available, meaning they had limited or uncertain access to enough food. This includes 8.9 percent of households with children, or about 3.2 million families. One in seven children (13.7 percent, or roughly 9.9 million) lived in poverty in 2023, up from one in eight the previous year, per the Food Action and Research Center.
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Health and Development Risks
Research has linked food insecurity in adolescents to poor health and developmental outcomes—from asthma and anemia to depression, suicidal thoughts, and reduced bone mass. The teenage years are a period of rapid growth and brain development, making stable nutrition especially critical.
Lauren Schuyler, assistant research director at the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work, said the change could unintentionally harm older children by cutting off support to their caregivers.
“Parents and caregivers of children aged 14 to 17 may now be classified as ABAWDs, making them subject to inflexible work requirements and time-limited benefits,” she told Newsweek. When that happens, she warned, “caregivers lose SNAP benefits, their children lose SNAP benefits, too, ultimately reducing access to nutritious food.”
Schuyler added that SNAP’s benefits go far beyond everyday hunger relief, noting that the program “has positive impacts on children’s physical health, development, and academic performance.” Reducing food access at this stage, she said, could negatively impact teens at a key point in their development.
"Research is clear that SNAP has positive impacts on children’s physical health, development, and academic performance. Therefore, a lack of access to nutritious food can have devastating consequences for teenagers, notably because adolescence is a period of rapid brain development," she said.
Working Parents
Critics of the new rule argue that it overlooks the realities of low-wage work and family care, which can make it difficult to meet SNAP’s 80-hour monthly work requirement.
“Parenting responsibilities do not magically disappear when kids turn 14,” Jennifer Greenfield, an associate professor at the University of Denver, told Newsweek. She pointed out that parents of teenagers still juggle school activities, medical appointments, and caregiving for other relatives. “Taking away SNAP for these families means more teens will go hungry—right at the age when many have growth spurts and need more protein than ever.”
Greenfield said that losing benefits could push parents into impossible choices between work and caregiving. Missing a shift to care for a sick child, she warned, could cost a parent their job—and with it, their ability to meet SNAP’s requirements at all.
Single-Parent and Multi-Child Homes
Cindy Jordan, CEO and co-founder of Pyx Health, said the new policy could deepen hardship in already vulnerable households. “By removing the exemption for parents or guardians of children over 13, the policy could destabilize food access for teens,” she told Newsweek. For single-parent or multi-child families, she added, “the loss of even partial SNAP benefits can introduce a frightening reality of food rationing, missed meals, and poor diet for their kids.”
Food deserts are areas where people have limited or no access to affordable, nutritious food—particularly fresh fruits and vegetables—because there are no nearby grocery stores or markets within easy reach. In these areas where access to affordable, healthy food is already limited, families already struggle to feed their children nutritious, balanced meals.
“Parents may have no choice but to rely upon cheaper, fast food options, which pose additional nutritional risks,” Jordan said.
The Republican View
The change in work requirements has been backed by Trump administration officials.
In a May 2025 opinion piece for The New York Times, prior to the OBBBA being passed, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Housing Secretary Scott Turner, said that widened work requirements for SNAP will "will prioritize the vulnerable, empower able-bodied individuals, help rebuild thriving communities and protect the taxpayers."
"Our agencies are united in a very straightforward policy approach: Able-bodied adults receiving benefits must work, participate in job training or volunteer in their communities at least 20 hours a week. Limited exceptions will be made for good cause, like caring for young children and health issues, but the principle is clear—those who can work, should.
"Some will argue that work requirements create barriers to resources. We disagree. We believe that welfare dependency, not work, is the barrier," they said.
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