The USDA Child & Adult Care Food Program

History of the CACFP

The USDA Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) was founded in 1968 to provide federal funds for healthy meals and snacks served in child care centers and family child care homes. Congress has expanded CACFP to support children in a variety of new settings including at-risk after-school programs and homeless, domestic violence and runaway shelters. In addition, CACFP has been made available to adult day care centers serving chronically impaired adults or people over age 60. Child Care Development Services has been an Oregon sponsor of the CACFP, providing support and training for Family Child Care Homes since 1977.

Primary Goal of the CACFP

The primary goal of the CACFP is to improve the diet of children 12 years of age and under. This goal is met through nutrition training and cash reimbursements for family child care providers serving nutritious meals.

Benefits

CACFP is a well-documented success. Studies have shown that children in CACFP receive meals that are nutritionally superior to those served to children in child care settings without CACFP. Participating children have higher intakes of key nutrients, fewer servings of fats and sweets, than children in non-participating care. Research cites participation in CACFP as one of the major factors influencing quality care, reporting that 87 percent of the family child care homes considered to be providing quality child care participated in CACFP. Child Care Development Services offers the Family Child Care Providers participating in our program many additional benefits, including:

• Workshops on a variety of topics design to improve child care;
• A monthly newsletter;
• A handy binder in which to store paperwork;
• High quality materials, such as contracts, authorization forms and medical release forms;
• Professional attention. Our staff is knowledgeable in the field of child care and nutrition. Most have been child care providers, so they understand the concerns of our participating providers and the children they care for. Our staff visits the providers' homes and stays in touch to help keep their child care programs thriving!

July 01, 2011 - USDA Issues New Reimbursement Rates

The current CACFP reimbursement rates for Family Child Care Homes are as follows:

Tier I Rates:

• Breakfast: $1.24
• Lunch/Supper: $2.32
• Snack: $0.69

Under the new Tier I rates, a provider claiming a breakfast, lunch and snack would receive a total increase of 1 cent per child per day.

Tier II Rates:

• Breakfast: $0.45
• Lunch/Supper: $1.40
• Snack: $0.19

Under the new Tier II rates, a provider claiming a breakfast, lunch and snack would receive a total increase of 1 cent per child per day.

Click here to download the form for making a change or addition to the menu.

How It Works

Participating family child care providers are required to provide meals and snacks according to the nutrition standards set by USDA. The provider is given a monthly cash reimbursement for the meals served. The reimbursement rates vary based on the type of meal (lunches have a higher reimbursement rate than snacks). See the Program Rules for more information on reimbursement rates.

The Child Care Provider does not need to keep track of the food purchased, only the food served (however, it is best to keep all food receipts for tax records). Each time a meal is served, the Child Care Provider writes down what was served on a menu sheet. At the end of the month, the Child Care Provider mails in the menu sheet which is reviewed to assure meals meet the USDA requirements. A Family Child Care Provider's reimbursement is based on the meals served that meet USDA CACFP requirements.

Eligibility

To be eligible for participation in CACFP, a family child care provider must be registered or certified with the Child Care Division (CCD) or listed with the Department of Human Services (DHS). A child care provider may join the CACFP as soon as they are registered with CCD or listed with DHS and have at least one child in care.