{"id":"special-milk-program","name":"Special Milk Program for Children","provider":"USDA Food and Nutrition Service and participating schools and child-care institutions","entitlement_type":"government-benefit","entitlement_type_label":"Government benefit","entitlement_type_context":{"definition":"A government-funded or administered benefit, service, coverage program, assistance program, or public access route.","domain":"public-benefits","archetype":"direct-program","agent_instruction":"Identify the administering jurisdiction and disclose income, household, age, disability, immigration, residence, renewal, fee, and capacity rules that apply."},"summary":"Participating schools, nonprofit child-care institutions, and eligible camps receive federal reimbursement to provide milk to children who do not have access to another federal child-nutrition meal service.","benefit":{"description":"Free milk for children who meet household-income rules when a participating institution operates the free-milk option, or milk offered at the institution's federally subsidized price under another approved pricing option.","estimated_value_usd":null},"discovery":{"focus":"public-service","has_estimated_dollar_value":false},"access":{"relationships":["Child served by a participating Special Milk Program institution","Income-eligible child at an institution offering free milk"],"requirements":"The child must attend a participating school, residential or nonresidential child-care institution, or camp that is eligible for the Special Milk Program and generally does not participate in another federal meal-service program. A school in the lunch or breakfast programs may use it for half-day prekindergarten or kindergarten children without access to those meals. Free milk requires the institution to offer that option and the household to meet the current free-meal income rules and application or direct-certification process.","activation":"Ask the child's school, child-care institution, or camp whether it participates and whether it offers free milk; submit the institution's annual household application or direct-certification information when required. Use the USDA program-contact directory to reach the state agency if local staff cannot answer.","cost_basis":"varies","cost_basis_label":"Variable by provider or eligibility","cost_basis_context":{"classification":"variable","definition":"The user's out-of-pocket cost cannot be represented by one fixed amount because it depends on provider policy, income, household, geography, selected service, coverage group, subsidy amount, or the underlying program. It may be free, reduced, sliding-scale, or partly paid.","agent_instruction":"Read and disclose the record's fees and requirements; use the most precise bounded price or variation reason available instead of repeating only that cost varies.","variation_patterns":["bounded price range","provider-set price","income-based sliding scale","coverage or service-dependent cost sharing","partial subsidy","directory of programs with different terms"],"does_not_mean":["universally free","cost information was necessarily omitted"]},"fees":"Eligible children receive free milk only where the institution uses the free-milk option and the child qualifies; other participating sites may charge the published subsidized price. The program does not provide cash or groceries and is unavailable where no eligible local institution participates.","personalized":false,"regions":["US","Participating state agencies, schools, institutions, and camps"],"expires":null},"status":"verified","last_checked":"2026-08-04","claim_url":"https://www.fns.usda.gov/smp/program-contacts","source_url":"https://www.fns.usda.gov/smp","source":{"primary_url":"https://www.fns.usda.gov/smp","evidence":[{"source":"USDA Food and Nutrition Service and participating schools and child-care institutions","url":"https://www.fns.usda.gov/smp","kind":"provider","checked_at":"2026-08-04"}]},"parent":null,"coverage":{"level":"national","family":"food-and-nutrition","jurisdiction":"United States","maturity":"direct"},"web_url":"/benefits/special-milk-program","taxonomy":{"version":"1.0","url":"/api/v1/taxonomy"}}