This study analyzes changes in the determinants of use of multiple food assistance (FA) programs by low-income children from 1990 to 2009. Using data from the 1990 and the 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, it compares very poor households with those that are poor and near poor. For both poverty groups, use of other welfare programs, especially Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, is found to be an important determinant of multiple FA program use, but the effects are found to decline over the study period. Volatility in household income-to-poverty ratios is also found to reduce both groups’ participation in multiple programs, but this effect grows for the very poor over the length of the study. Very poor children in households with more employed and married adults are found to use fewer FA programs, although they are apparently eligible for these programs.