Maine WIC for Grandparents Raising a Grandchild

WIC Covers Young Children Through Age 4

If your grandchild or relative's child is under age 5, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program provides supplemental food, infant formula, and nutrition education at no cost. In Maine, WIC is administered through the DHHS Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is separate from SNAP. WIC provides specific approved foods — milk, eggs, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, infant formula, and baby food — through WIC-authorized retailers. You can receive both WIC and SNAP simultaneously.

Eligibility for Kinship Caregivers

The income limit is 185% of the federal poverty level. If the child already receives TANF, SNAP, or MaineCare, they are adjunctively eligible for WIC without separate income verification. This satisfies the income test, but WIC also requires a nutrition-risk determination.

Fathers, legal guardians, adoptive parents, and foster parents can apply on behalf of eligible infants and children. If you are not one of those caregivers, a WIC participant can designate a trusted proxy to attend appointments and use the eWIC card; the child must still meet WIC's income and nutrition-risk criteria.

What WIC Provides

Monthly food benefits are loaded onto an eWIC card (similar to an EBT card) and can be redeemed at authorized grocery stores. The specific food package depends on the child's age:

• Infants (0–12 months): Formula, infant cereal, baby food fruits/vegetables/meats
• Children (1–4 years): Milk, eggs, cereal, juice, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter or beans

WIC also provides nutrition counseling and referrals to other health and social services. For infants, breastfeeding support is available, including access to breast pumps and lactation consultants.

How to Apply

Contact your local Maine WIC office to schedule a certification appointment. You can find office locations by calling the Maine WIC program or checking the DHHS website. Bring:

• The child's proof of identity (birth certificate or hospital record)
• Proof of Maine residency (utility bill, lease, mail showing your address)
• Income documentation — or proof of current TANF, SNAP, or MaineCare enrollment (which bypasses the income check)

Certification includes height and weight measurements and a nutrition-risk assessment. Blood tests screen for anemia, but timing depends on age: infants under 9 months do not require testing; infants 9 months and older need a test or outside results if not already tested; children need a test between 12 and 24 months and annual tests from ages 2 through 5 when prior results were normal. Recertification happens every 6 to 12 months depending on the child's age category.

WIC Alongside Other Benefits

WIC benefits are not counted as income for any other program. Receiving WIC will not reduce your TANF grant, SNAP allotment, or MaineCare eligibility. It is purely additive — free food for the child on top of everything else.

If you have not applied for TANF child-only cash assistance or MaineCare yet, the WIC office can point you toward OFI to start those applications. Many families apply for everything at roughly the same time during the first weeks of a kinship placement.

The complete Maine kinship financial help guide walks through WIC alongside every other benefit program available to kinship caregivers in Maine, with a unified document checklist so you can prepare for all applications at once.

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