Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

CACFP is the only program that addresses nutrition for children in the child care setting, where increasing numbers of children receive most of their daily nourishment.  In California over 400,000 children aged 0-5 spend 10 or more hours per week in licensed child care facilities. Of those children almost 60% spend 30 hours or more in child care every week. Child care providers who participate in CACFP get reimbursed for 2 meals and 1 snack per day, with higher reimbursements for children living at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Line.  

Announcements                                                Resources & Links

Overviews and On-line Guides                         Reauthorization

Research & Reports

Announcements

California earns $200,000 for food program administrators to deliver new and innovative behavior-focused nutrition education strategies for children and their caregivers through state agencies that administer the National School Lunch Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Programs. Click here for more information. 

CFPA's Child Nutrition Reauthorization Recommendations.

• New Income Eligibility Guidelines for CACFP
• Expanding CACFP should be a part of plans to maximize the use of federal funds and meet people's needs in the current recession.  For more information, click here.
• For-profit child care centers are again eligible to participate in CACFP.  Retroactive claims for reimbursement must be submitted to the State agency by February 1, 2002.  Click here for more information.
• Meal benefit forms are now available in translations to 12 different languages.  To see these forms, click here.
• CFPA testified before the Children & Families (Prop. 10) Commission on Strategies to Support Quality Informal Child Care, January 17, 2002.  To read this testimony, click here.
• CFPA testified before the Children & Families (Prop. 10) Commission on Health-Related Issues That Pose Barriers to School Readiness, Dec. 11, 2001. To read this testimony, click here.
• CFPA testified before the Governor's Child Development Policy Advisory Committee, on General Information about CACFP, October 4, 2001.  To read this testimony, click here.

Overviews and On-line Guides (hit cancel if asked for password)

• CACFP County Profiles from CDE (includes enrollment and participation)
• How CACFP makes a difference (USDA's Food and Nutrition Services)
• Child and Adult Care Food Program Fact Sheet
• Fact Sheet on CACFP from the Food and Research Action Committee (FRAC)
• Working Families Summit Background Documents

• USDA (Food & Nutrition Services Division) CACFP    

• USDA After-School Snacks in CACFP  )

• California Department of Education (Nutrition Services Division)  Child Care Food Program  

• Using the Child and Adult Care Food Program as a Substantial Resource of Supporting Quality Family Child Care, FRAC

Research & Reports  (hit cancel if asked for password)

• Nutrition and Physical Activity in Licensed Child Care: A Statewide Assessment of California

        CFPA, with Samuels & Associates and the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley, received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the nutrition and physical activity

        environments of licensed child care settings across the State of California.  Results were consistent with those described below in the observational study conducted in Los Angeles County.

        Full Report

• It’s 12 O’clock… What Are Our Preschoolers Eating for Lunch? An Assessment of Nutrition and the Nutrition Environment in Licensed Child Care in Los Angeles County (CFPA, July 2008)

        CFPA, with PHFE-WIC and the Child Care Food Program Roundtable, received funding from the Gilbert foundation to study the nutrition environment of licensed child care settings in LA County.

        Executive Summary

        Full Report

        PowerPoint Presentation - presented at American Public Health Association Conference, San Diego, 2008

• USDA Data on CACFP, 2001

• The Federal Nutrition Programs: A Safety Net for Very Young Children” Zero to Three, August/September 2000

Resources & Links

• Free and Reduced-Priced Meal applications (20 languages)
• Working Families Summit Background Documents
• Food Research and Action Center Summary of CACFP   
• Child Care Food Program Roundtable (for the sponsoring organizations in California that recruit, train, monitor, and support centers and family child care homes participating in CACFP)  

CACFP Reauthorization

For additional information, please contact Kumar Chandran by calling 510.433.1122 or kumar@cfpa.net.