Family and Group Child Care Homes: Licensed & Registered

 

Program Description

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) was established to improve the meals and snacks served in child and adult day care settings. Licensed and registered family child care homes and licensed group child care homes in private residences can participate in CACFP. Home child care providers are reimbursed for nutritious meals and snacks served to children. All family and group child care homes are eligible for Tier II reimbursement rates. A higher rate (Tier I) will be paid to home providers who live in low income areas, have low income, or serve low income children.

CACFP is administered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For more information about the Child and Adult Care Food Program, contact us.

Eligibility Requirements

  • All family and group child care homes must be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services or a branch of the military, or have current registration status with the Department of Social Services.
  • All family and group child care homes must be in provider's own residence, the private residence of another, or a rented or unoccupied private residence - cannot be in a commercial building.
  • All family and group child care homes must participate in CACFP through a sponsoring organization.

Sponsoring Organizations

Sponsoring organizations are nonprofit or public organizations that contract with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. They serve as sponsors for family and group child care homes. Their responsibilities include:

  • Making at least three visits annually to family and group child care home providers, to observe meal service and program compliance.
  • Checking records such as menus, meal counts, and attendance records on a monthly basis.
  • Training family and group child care home providers on program requirements.
  • Providing help to family and group child care home providers in areas of nutrition, nutrition education, food preparation, and food sanitation.
  • Determining if the sponsored providers are Tier I homes and determine which children are eligible for Tier I reimbursement.
  • Submitting claim information on a monthly basis to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services - Community Food and Nutrition Assistance.
  • Disbursing or mailing checks for meals served to home providers in a timely manner.

Services provided by the sponsoring organization may include other services in addition to those listed above.

Home Responsibilities

  • Serve meals meeting program requirements for infants and for children.
  • Claim no more than two meals and one snack, or one meal and two snacks for each child in attendance per day.
  • Keep accurate meal count and daily attendance records on a per child basis.
  • Keep accurate records of all meals served, including menus and meal count documentation

Reimbursement Rates

Rates are effective from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next.

Tier I reimbursement rates are for family and group child care homes that qualify as low-income on the basis of census data, local school free and reduced lunch data, or household income. Individual children enrolled in the family and group child care homes may also qualify for Tier I rates based on their household income.

Tier II reimbursement rates are for family and group child care homes or children that do not qualify for Tier I rates.

How to Apply

To participate in CACFP, eligible family and group child care homes must sign an agreement with a sponsoring organization. Changing to another sponsoring organization is allowed ONLY ONE TIME per federal fiscal year, October through September. Therefore, family and group child care homes are encouraged to contact several sponsoring organizations before signing any agreement.

A list of sponsoring organizations accepting licensed family and group child care homes is available in the brochure "Building Good Nutrition Through Child Care Homes".

A list of sponsoring organizations accepting registered family child care homes is available in the brochure "Building Good Nutrition Through Registered Homes".

CACFP reimbursement will be the same no matter which sponsoring organization is chosen. However, services provided by sponsoring organizations differ and may include other services in addition to those required for CACFP.