This policy brief examines low-income children's participation in food assistance programs and explores the potential to improve food security by extending this safety net to more children. The results show that the nutrition safety net plays an important role in low-income families' lives. Seven out of ten young children and almost eight out of ten school-age children in low-income families receive some nutrition assistance. Nonetheless, the safety net fails to reach three out of ten low-income children. Also, one in five poor children receive no nutrition assistance. The authors conclude that the food safety net has considerable room to expand.