The shutdown is forcing the closure or reduction of a range of government services, including key programs for children in need. Head Start, the preschool program for low-income families, says it has lost grant money for 23 programs in 11 different states, impacting some 19,000 children. This comes on top of the 57,000 children removed from Head Start this fall because of budget cuts under the sequester. In a statement, the head of the National Head Start Association, Yasmina Vinci, said: “This abdication of responsibility by Congress and leaders in Washington has further displaced the at-risk children already reeling from sequester. Government shutdown is one cut atop an already deep wound.” If the shutdown continues for another week, the Department of Agriculture will stop funding a nutrition program aiding nine million women and children. The Women, Infants and Children program helps pregnant women and new mothers with the purchase of healthy food. And for every week the shutdown continues, around 10 child cancer patients will be denied clinical trials due to cutbacks at the National Institutes of Health.