Why CACFP Is
Important
USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food
Program plays a vital role in
improving the quality of day
care and making it more
affordable for many low-income
families. Each day, 2.9 million
children receive nutritious
meals and snacks through CACFP.
The program also provides meals
and snacks to 86,000 adults who
receive care in nonresidential
adult day care centers. CACFP
reaches even further to provide
meals to children residing in
emergency shelters, and snacks
and suppers to youths
participating in eligible afterschool care programs.
A General
Overview
CACFP is authorized at section
17 of the National School Lunch
Act (42 U.S.C. 1766). Program
regulations are issued by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) under 7 CFR part 226.
Program Administration
USDA’s Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) administers CACFP
through grants to States. The
program is administered within
most States by the State
educational agency. In a few
States it is administered by an
alternate agency, such as the
State health or social services
department; and in Virginia, it
is directly administered by the
FNS Mid-Atlantic Regional
Office. The child care
component and the adult day care
component of CACFP may be
administered by different
agencies within a State, at the
discretion of the Governor.
Independent centers and
sponsoring organizations enter
into agreements with their
administering State agencies to
assume administrative and
financial responsibility for
CACFP operations. CACFP serves
nutritious meals and snacks to
eligible children and adults who
are enrolled for care at
participating child care
centers, day care homes, and
adult day care centers. CACFP
also provides meals to children
residing in emergency shelters,
and snacks to youths
participating in afterschool
care programs.
Child Care Centers
Eligible public or private
nonprofit child care centers,
outside-school-hours care
centers, Head Start programs,
and other institutions which are
licensed or approved to provide
day care services may
participate in CACFP,
independently or as sponsored
centers. For profit
centers must receive title XX
funds for at least 25 percent of
enrolled children or licensed
capacity (which ever is less) or at least
25 percent of the children in
care must be eligible for free and
reduced price meals. Meals served to children
are reimbursed at rates based
upon a child’s eligibility for
free, reduced price, or paid
meals.
Day Care Homes
A family or group day care home
must sign an agreement with a
sponsoring organization to
participate in CACFP. Day care
homes must be licensed or
approved to provide day care
services. Reimbursement for
meals served in day care homes
is based upon eligibility for
tier I rates (which targets
higher levels of reimbursement
to low-income areas, providers,
or children) or lower tier II
rates.
"At-Risk" Afterschool Care
Programs
Community-based programs
that offer
enrichment activities for
at-risk children and teenagers,
after the regular school day
ends, can provide free
snacks through CACFP.
Programs must be offered in
areas where at least 50% of the
children are eligible for free
and reduced price meals based
upon school data. Reimbursable suppers are also
available to children in
eligible afterschool care
programs in seven
States--Delaware, Illinois,
Michigan, Missouri, New York,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia.
Emergency Shelters
Since July 1, 1999, public or
private nonprofit emergency
shelters which provide
residential and food services to
homeless children may
participate in CACFP. Eligible
shelters may receive
reimbursement for serving up to
three meals each day to homeless
children, through age 18, who reside there.
Unlike most other CACFP
facilities, a shelter does not
have to be licensed to provide
day care. However, it must meet
any health and safety codes that
are required by state or local
law.
Adult Day Care Centers
Public or private nonprofit
adult day care facilities which
provide structured,
comprehensive services to
nonresidential adults who are
functionally impaired, or aged
60 and older, may participate in
CACFP as independent or
sponsored centers. For profit
centers may be eligible for
CACFP if at least 25 percent of
their participants receive
benefits under title XIX or
title XX. Meals served to
adults receiving care are
reimbursed at rates based upon a
participant’s eligibility for
free, reduced price, or paid
meals.
Meal Reimbursement
Independent centers and
sponsoring organizations receive
cash reimbursement for serving
meals to enrolled children and
adults that meet Federal
nutritional guidelines. The
CACFP meal pattern varies
according to age and types of
meal served.
Centers and day care homes may
be approved to claim up to two
reimbursable meals (breakfast,
lunch or supper) and one snack,
or two snacks and one meal, to
each eligible participant, each
day. Shelters may serve each
child up to three reimbursable
meals (breakfast, lunch and
supper), each day. Afterschool
care programs may claim
reimbursement for serving each
child one snack, each day.
Reimbursement for centers is
computed by claiming
percentages, blended per meal
rates, or actual meal count by
type (breakfast, lunch, supper,
or snack) and eligibility
category (free, reduced price,
and paid). The State
agency assigns a method of
reimbursement for centers, based
on meals times rates, or the
lesser of meals times rates
versus actual documented costs.
Program payments for day care
homes are based on the number of
meals served to enrolled
children, multiplied by the
appropriate reimbursement rate
for each breakfast, lunch,
supper, or snack they are
approved to serve. Sponsoring
organizations also receive
administrative funds related to
the documented costs they incur
in planning, organizing, and
managing CACFP.
Tier I day care homes are those
that are located in low-income
areas, or those in which the
provider’s household income is
at or below 185 percent of the
Federal income poverty
guidelines. Sponsoring
organizations may use elementary
school free and reduced price
enrollment data or census block
group data to determine which
areas are low-income.
Tier II homes are those family
day care homes which do not meet
the location or provider income
criteria for a tier I home. The
provider in a tier II home may
elect to have the sponsoring
organization identify
income-eligible children, so
that meals served to those
children who qualify for free
and reduced price meals would be
reimbursed at the higher tier I
rates.
A child’s eligibility for tier I
rates in a tier II day care home
may be documented through
submission of an income
eligibility statement which
details family size and income
or participation in any of a
number of means-tested State or
Federal programs with
eligibility at or below 185
percent of poverty.
Commodities or Cash-in-lieu of
Commodities
In addition to cash
reimbursement, USDA makes
donated agricultural commodities
or cash-in-lieu of commodities
available to institutions
participating in CACFP.
Pricing of
Program Meals
Centers participating in CACFP
may charge a single fee (nonpricing
program) to cover tuition,
meals, and all other day care
services, or they may charge
separate fees for meals (pricing
program). The free and reduced
price policy statement describes
the institution’s pricing
policy. All day care homes and
the vast majority of centers
participate in CACFP as
nonpricing programs, since the
fees they charge cover all areas
of their day care services.
Funding of
Benefits and State
Administrative Costs
Funding Program Benefits
FNS
provides cash assistance to each
State agency for meals served to
eligible children and adults in
day care centers based upon the
participant’s eligibility under
the Income Eligibility
Guidelines for free, reduced
price, or paid meals. National
average payments for meals
served in centers are adjusted
annually on July 1, to reflect
changes in the Food Away From
Home series of the Consumer
Price Index. Meals served in
emergency shelters and afterschool care snacks are
reimbursed at the rates for free
meals and snacks.
Payments for meals served in day
care homes are also adjusted annually
on July 1, based on changes in
the Food at Home series
of the Consumer Price Index.
The level of reimbursement for
meals served to enrolled
children in day care homes is
determined by economic need,
based on either the location of
the day care home, or the
household income of the day care
home provider, or the household
income of each enrolled child.
Meals served to the day care
home provider’s own children are
reimbursable only if those
children are determined eligible
for free and reduced price
meals.
The level of commodity
assistance or cash in lieu of
commodities is based on the
numbers of lunches and suppers
served in centers in the
preceding year, multiplied by
the national average payment for
donated foods. Commodity
assistance rates are also
adjusted annually on July 1, to
reflect changes in the Food
Used in Schools and Institutions
series of the Consumer Price
Index.
Funding State-Level
Administrative Costs
FNS makes State Administrative
Expense (SAE) funds available to
State agencies for
administrative expenses incurred
in supervising and giving
technical assistance to
institutions participating in
CACFP. SAE requirements are
prescribed at 7 CFR part 235.
Additional funds are also
available to States to help
State agencies and institutions
comply with Federal audit
requirements. "One and a half
percent audit funds" is equal to
1.5 percent of the reimbursement
payments made to the State,
during the second fiscal year
preceding the year for which the
funds are to be made available.
Participant Eligibility and
Program Benefits
CACFP serves nutritious meals
and snacks to children and
adults who attend eligible day
care programs.
Eligible Population
Section 226.2 of the regulations
describes who may receive CACFP
meal benefits.
Children means "(a)
Persons age 12 and under; (b)
Persons age 15 and under who are
children of migrant workers; (c)
Persons age 18 and under who are
residents of emergency shelters;
and
(d) Persons with mental or
physical handicaps, as defined
by the State, which are enrolled
in an institution or a child
care facility or residing in an
emergency shelter serving a
majority of
persons 18 years of age and
under." Provider’s own children
are eligible only in tier I day
care homes, when other
nonresidential children are
enrolled in the day care home
and are participating in the
meal service.
Adult participant means
"a person enrolled in an adult
day care center who is
functionally impaired ... or 60
years of age or older." The
adult component of CACFP is
targeted to individuals who
remain in the community and
reside with family members.
Individuals who reside in
institutions are not eligible
for CACFP benefits.
In addition, Public Law 105-336
made CACFP snacks available to
children and youth through age
18 in eligible afterschool care
programs, while Public Law
108-265 raised the age limit for
meals served to children
residing in emergency shelters
from 12 to age 18.
Determining Eligibility
In centers, participants from
households with incomes at or
below 130 percent of poverty are
eligible for free meals.
Participants in centers with
household incomes between 130
percent and 185 percent of
poverty are eligible for meals
at a reduced price. Institutions
must determine each enrolled
participant’s eligibility for
free and reduced price meals
served in centers.
Sponsoring organizations of day
care homes must determine which
day care homes are eligible for
tier I rates and, if requested,
which children are eligible to
receive meals reimbursed at tier
I rates in tier II day care
homes.
A participant’s eligibility for
free and reduced price meals in
centers or for tier I meals in
day care homes, may be
established by submission of an
income eligibility statement,
which provides information about
family size and income. The
information submitted by each
household is compared with
USDA’s Income Eligibility
Guidelines.
Children whose families receive
benefits from the Food Stamp
Program, Food Distribution
Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR),
or State programs funded through
Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) are
categorically eligible for free
meals. Children who are
income-eligible participants of
Head Start or Even Start
programs are automatically
eligible for free meals, without
further application or
eligibility determination.
Children who are residents of
emergency shelters are also
automatically eligible for free
meals.
Adults who receive food stamps,
FDPIR, Social Security Income (SSI),
or Medicaid benefits are
categorically eligible for free
meals.
Claiming Reimbursement for Meals
Served
Institutions must submit
accurate monthly claims for
reimbursement to their
administering agencies.
Reimbursement is not allowed for
meals or snacks that are:
served to a child or an adult
who is not enrolled for care;
served in excess of licensed or
authorized capacity; not
approved in the agreement;
served in excess of the maximum
number of approved meal
services; or out of compliance
with meal pattern requirements.
Meals served at for profit
centers during a calendar month
when less than 25 percent of the
center’s enrollment or licensed
capacity (whichever is less)
receive title XIX or title XX
benefits or are eligible for
free and reduced price meals may not be claimed for
reimbursement.
Meals served to adults which are
claimed for reimbursement under
part C of title III of the Older
Americans Act may not be claimed
under CACFP.
Shelters may not claim
reimbursement for meals served
to children who are not
residents of emergency shelters.
Last modified:
10/20/2008
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