Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides:

• In home training for nutrition education and assistance with menu planning through in-home visits
• Cash reimbursements for meals served to children. You can receive reimbursements for up to two major meals and one snack per day, for any child under the age of thirteen.
• Resources to help organize your business, such as calendar keepers, tax booklets, and notebooks for menu planning.
• Resources for children such as toothbrushes, stickers and activities.
• A quarterly newsletter that keeps you informed on child care issues, nutrition guidelines, interesting recipes, and much, much more.

The CACFP is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. In this program, registered, certified, or DHS-Listed child care providers are trained in the food program meal pattern, and are reimbursed at a fixed rate for serving meals and snacks to their day care children, as well as their own if they are income eligible. In Oregon, the CACFP is administered by the Department of Education.

NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE CHILD & ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM

The Children’s Aid Society of New York provided this country’s first school food service program in 1853. By 1900, other cities were making significant efforts to initiate some type of school food service program. By 1913 there were 30 cities with school food service programs, most of them operated by private charities.

During the Depression years of the 1930’s, the federal government began to provide financial aid to assist with school food service programs.

In 1946, the 79th Congress passed the National School Lunch Act and established the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The Act assisted states in providing an adequate supply of food and assisted other facilities for establishing, maintaining, operating and expanding non-profit school lunch programs.

The government also established several policies regarding implementation of the NSLP:

• Free or reduced-price lunches would be served to children unable to pay full price. All meals for all students would subsidize.
• The program would be non-profit
• Lunches must meet nutritional requirements
• The program should use donated foods as much as possible.

In 1962, the 89th Congress passed the Child Nutrition Act.

The history of government support for child care feeding programs began in 1965 as a part of a three-year pilot program known as “Special Food Service Program for Children”. That was the forerunner of the Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The pilot program provided assistance to non-residential child care centers serving children from low-income areas or from areas with significant numbers of working mothers. In 1968, Congress instituted the Child Care Food Program (CCFP) as a part of the Child Nutrition Program. This was to improve nutritional status and prevent disease in children attending day care centers, recreational centers and settlement homes in low-income areas of the U.S., where large numbers of working mothers lived. Meals were required to meet minimum nutrition standards, and were to be served at no costs or reduced coast to children unable to pay full price.

In October of 1975, new child nutrition legislation, Public Law 94-627 modified the program in theses major areas:

• Permanent authorization was given to the program.
• Cash reimbursement changed from an income to a reimbursement.
• Categorized rate for day care homes to a flat rate or reimbursement for each child in family day care homes. Reimbursement for all meals served in the homes would be at one rate, regardless of the family income of the participants.
• USDA would pay sponsoring agency administrative expenses.
• Sponsoring agency monitoring and supervisory assistance was expanded.

The rules and regulation implementing this law went into effect May1, 1980. To carry out the CCFP, agreements were made between state agencies and the USDA Food and Nutrition Service for reimbursement to qualified contractors of child care facilities, outside-school-hours centers and family day care homes, for nutritious meals and supplements to children.

In 1989, the Program expanded to allow adults in adult day care centers to participate. The name changed to the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to reflect the change.

The CACFP has grown throughout the years. Nationwide approximately 1.8 million children are served each working day in family day care homes and thousands more participate in child care centers and Head Start Programs.

The goals of the Child and Adult Care Food Program are:

• To ensure that well-balanced, nutritious meals are served to children and to help children learn to eat a wide variety of foods as part of a balanced diet.

THE PROGRAM SERVES:

• Children under the age of 13.
• Migrant worker’s children, age 15 and under
• Physically or mentally disabled persons receiving care in a family day care home or child care center where most participants are 18 years old or younger.
• Adults who are functionally impaired or over the age of 60, and unable to care for themselves.

DAY CARE HOME PARTICIPANTS

• Family day care homes must follow the state licensing requirements.
• Family day care homes must participate through a sponsoring organization

BENEFITS OF THE CHILD & ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM

BENEFITS TO THE CHILD

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) offers lifetime benefits. Proper nutrition during the early years of childhood ensures appropriate development and reduces physical and educational problems later in life. The preschool years are when eating patterns and habits are being established that may determine the quality of one’s diet throughout life. Children who are in day care with providers who participate in the CACFP are given the opportunity of nutrition education by providers who understand their role in shaping attitudes toward the acceptance of nutritious foods. Providers create an atmosphere that instills a positive, curious attitude about food from the earliest years.

BENEFITS FOR THE PARENTS

Parents are assured that their children will be served high quality meals. The benefit is children area less likely to experience fatigue and illness, and less time a parent must be absent from work. The child is also more likely to be healthy, happy and develop a normal physical, emotional and intellectual pace.

BENFITS FOR THE FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDER

Providers receive valuable nutrition education that helps them know the proper foods to feed children in amounts appropriate for these young age groups. They receive help through nutrition education and personal visits from CACFP staff in understanding how to encourage positive eating habits that will benefit a child throughout life. They help children make healthy choices for their meals and snack food that will last a lifetime.

BENEFITS FOR THE COMMUNITY

Because of the CACFP, federal tax monies are returned to the provider’s state and invested in the health of the community’s children. The added revenue is a meals of helping to keep child care costs down for employees working in the community. Since only regulated providers are eligible to participate in the program, this provides an incentive for unlicensed providers to comply with local child care ordinances.

NOTE: Child care providers who are listed with the Department of Human Services (DHS) are also eligible to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. These are individuals who receive state funds for watching children for low-income families. They, as licensed day care providers, have had background checks and would be on a list provided to CACFP as being eligible to participate.

Parents interested in finding a day care provider who is a CACFP participant are encouraged to call the Family Connections Resource and Referral at 672-7955.

Child Care Providers who are interested in participating on the Child and Adult Care Food Program are can reach them at the Family Connections USDA CACFP at 672-7004.