nothing wrong with the paper, my professor just wants it to be in an outline format and also include how this information is relevant to the Saint Leo University Core Values of Excellence and Integrit

WIC Drug Enforcement Policy

Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is a health initiative by the government aimed at safeguarding the interests of women and children especially in the dimension of health and wellbeing. Its mission is to uphold the health of infants, low-income women, and children at risk of or experiencing poor nutrition. In order to succeed in the mission to protect the health interest of the target populations, WIC has established its policy on drug abuse for the target populations and people around them such as parents or guardians. The policy on drugs stipulates that current recipients of the benefits of the WIC program and new applicants must be screened for drug use. In case there is reasonable suspicion of drug use among such individuals, the recipients or applicants must take drug tests to ascertain their drug-abuse status (Vargas & Pirog, 2016). If the eligible recipients of the WIC benefits or applicants for the program declines to take the drug test, or accepts but tests positive their eligibility for benefits or acceptance of their application in the case of new applicants is declined for a period of not less than six months (Vargas & Pirog, 2016). Additionally, legal action can be taken against applicants and recipients who test positive in the drug test depending on their general conduct especially when their behaviors towards women and children negatively impact on the latter’s physical, emotional, and mental health.

If the individuals who have failed the drug test are immigrants, they are at risk of deportation. Factors to be considered herein include the severity of their drug-abuse problem, and the extent to which their drug abuse-related behaviors impact negatively on the others especially WIC’s populations of interest (Vargas & Pirog, 2016). Adherence to the policy on drugs has been associated with better health outcomes such as higher birth weights during pregnancy, reduced fatal deaths, and better newborn-babies’ health (Pecora et al., 2018). Furthermore, the drug policy has significantly prevented incidences of domestic violence, negligence of dependent women and children, and better health outcomes by increasing responsible behaviors among the beneficiary of the WIC program and their caregivers.

References

Pecora, P. J., Whittaker, J. K., Barth, R. P., Borja, S., & Vesneski, W. (2018). The child welfare challenge: Policy, practice, and research. New York: Routledge.

Vargas, E. D., & Pirog, M. A. (2016). Mixed‐status families and WIC uptake: The effects of risk of deportation on program use. Social Science Quarterly, 97(3), 555-572.