Child and Adult Care Food Program

What is the CACFP?

  Help for Centers        Help for Homes

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP, or Food Program) is a little-known federal program administered by the USDA designed to ensure that children in child care in America get the best possible nutrition, to help them grow up strong and healthy and to help establish healthy eating habits for life. It is small by federal standards (about $2 billion annually), so it is one of the least known federal programs. But it is responsible on a daily basis for ensuring that over 2.9 million children (and 86,000 elderly Americans) are given the nutrition they need to stay healthy. For the hard working women and men who operate their child care businesses, working to care for America's next generation, the Child and Adult Care Food Program not only helps cover the cost of the food they offer to the children in their care, but also provides training so they make the best nutrition choices when feeding those children.

The Food Program is an investment in America's future, and to protect that taxpayers investment this federally funded program is heavily regulated. There are inches-thick volumes of regulation governing every aspect of the program, and it can take years to learn all of the nuances of CACFP rules. But the basic program structure can be summarized in the chart below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midwest Child Care Association is a "Sponsor" of Child Care Centers and Family Child Care Homes in Nebraska. We report to the Department of Education - Child Nutrition Services. We are the only Sponsor in the state that sponsors both Homes and Centers.   Our service area covers the following counties:

• Adams
• Buffalo
• Burt
• Butler
• Cass
• Colfax
• Cuming
• Dakota
• Dodge
• Douglas
• Hall
• Hamilton
• Kearney
• Lancaster
• Madison
• Merrick
• Otoe
• Phelps
• Pierce
• Platte
• Sarpy
• Saunders
• Seward
• Stanton
• Washington
• Wayne
• York