One Year After Vital Supports Ended: Disheartening Drop in CACFP Participation
September 30, 2024
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Keep Kids Fed Act provided flexibilities that were critical for the ability to continue to provide nutritious meals and maintain operation of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). These flexibilities included:
- Additional 10 cent reimbursement per meal and snack
- Reimbursement at the Tier I (higher) rate for all family child care homes
- Off-site (Remote)Monitoring
In June of 2023, these flexibilities expired, leaving CACFP operators without much-needed supports. One year later, we have witnessed a concerning decline in participation.
Flexibilities Needed to Maintain Meal Service to Children and Adults
Through the last Child Nutrition Reauthorization in 2010, the National School Lunch Program received a 6-cent increase in reimbursement rates to help off-set the cost of stricter meal pattern requirements. The CACFP did not receive the same financial support and USDA’s Study of Nutrition and Activity in Child Care Settings (SNACS) found that 2016-2017 CACFP reimbursement rates only covered 18% to 51% of the total cost (food plus labor) to produce a meal or snack. Since 2017, food and labor costs have continued to rise without a corresponding increase in reimbursement rates.
Reimbursement only covers up to 51% and as low as 18% of the total cost of meal service.
In response to an NCA survey, 79% of centers confirmed that their reimbursement does not cover enough of their food costs and 93% of centers said that reimbursement does not cover the labor costs involved in serving meals. During the pandemic, all CACFP providers received an additional 10 cents for each meal and snack they served. This small increase in reimbursement went a long way for providers and even allowed some to keep their doors open. However, when new reimbursement rates were released in July of 2023, they did not include the 10-cent bump. In 2024, a center providing breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack would only receive up to $8.01 per child per day. Inadequate reimbursement rates have consistently been found to be one of the top challenges providers face with the program, resulting in decreased participation. Low reimbursement rates have also been cited as a barrier to providers joining the CACFP, because “with the high cost of food, providers think rates are not worth the paperwork.”
Two Meals and a Snack
Center = $8.01
Tier I Home = $5.74
Tier II Home = $2.76
Approximately half of child care providers participating in the CACFP are family child care homes. However there has been a continuous decline in the number of family child care homes participating in CACFP since the creation of the inequitable tiering system 25 years ago. In 2024, a family child care home providing breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack would receive $5.74 per child if they qualify as Tier I. However, if a provider falls into Tier II, they receive only $2.76, less than half of what their Tier I peers receive. During the pandemic, all family child care providers were eligible to receive the higher Tier I reimbursement rate. When the tiering system was re-instated in June of 2023, many providers who were returned to their Tier II status stopped participation in the program at an accelerated rate, with 8.6% of family homes (over 6,000) leaving the food program since the end of flexibilities.
Sponsoring organizations are also critical for program access, as family homes are only able to participate through the use of a sponsor. Many child care centers also work with a sponsoring organization to decrease the administrative burden on their own staff. However, sponsoring organizations have also been struggling to meet the increasingly burdensome requirements of the program and maintain financial viability as providers continue to drop. During the pandemic, one key flexibility helped them continue and even improve their operations. Off-site (remote) monitoring was a critical modernization provision during the pandemic that saved time and money for CACFP sponsoring organizations. However, since the end of the off-site (remote) monitoring flexibility, almost 10% of family home sponsoring organizations (52) have left the CACFP. This is the largest decline in family home sponsors in over five years. As family home sponsors decline, the ability for child care providers to join the program becomes more difficult and less accessible.
Since the end of pandemic flexibilities, we have seen a concerning drop in both providers and sponsors of the CACFP. Not only does this have a negative impact on the financial circumstances of the small businesses themselves, but also on the food security of their communities. Since June of 2024, the total number of meals served through the CACFP was down by 2.9 million (2.3%) compared to the prior year, meaning that almost 100,000 children did not receive nutritious meals through the CACFP. While these children may still be receiving meals at their child care programs, there is no guarantee that they are getting meals and if they are that those meals are as nutritious as they would be if supplemented by the CACFP. Studies have shown that CACFP providers serve more nutritious meals, provide a better quality of care, and serve higher rates of low-income, food insecure children and adults. Critical improvements must be made to the CACFP in order to halt the decline in participation and maintain the service of nutritious meals to those who need them most.
How You Can Help
- Take action for the Child Care Nutrition Enhancement Act to permanently increase CACFP reimbursement by 10 cents and eliminate the outdated tiering system.
- Ask your elected officials to support the Early Childhood Nutrition Improvement Act to make the program easier to operate and to provide reimbursement for additional meals many providers are paying for out of their own pockets.
- Reach out to your State agency to submit a 12(l) waiver to allow off-site (remote) monitoring in your State.
Contact policy@cacfp.org with any questions.