Over a period of 4 months in early 1994, Voices for Children investigated low-income children's access to 15 benefits for which they might be eligible. Of those benefits, six were further analyzed to determine how many eligible low-income children were actually receiving them. Counties were grouped by population size to determine if differences existed in participation by size of county population. The investigation gathered federal and state statutes and regulations governing the benefit programs; developed short summaries of each program; conducted a statistical analysis to determine how many children were eligible and how many actually received benefits; interviewed low-income parents, service providers, administrators, and policy makers; and held focus groups involving low-income parents. Results indicate that children in metropolitan or urban counties were more likely to receive services than children in rural counties. Negative community attitudes affected the availability and utilization of services. Many people did not use services because of transportation problems. Some parents and providers needed basic information about resources and benefits. The six benefits analyzed were: (1) Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); (2) Head Start; (3) Food Stamps; (4) Aid to Dependent Children (ADC); (5) school lunch, free and reduced price; and (6) school breakfast. Appendices contain explanations of participation indexes and a table of indicators to identify underserved Nebraska counties. (KS)