CACFP for childcare providers: how centers and home daycares join the food program
What the Child and Adult Care Food Program pays for, who can join, sponsors vs independent centers, the paperwork behind a claim, and the current reimbursement rates.
A daycare joins CACFP — the Child and Adult Care Food Program — under U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations (7 CFR part 226): family or group day care homes participate under a sponsoring organization, and the rules put training and claim duties on child care centers directly. The program reimburses qualifying meals and snacks per meal, at rates the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets annually. Here is what it pays for, who qualifies, the paperwork, and the current rates — and where to take your application questions.
What CACFP pays for
CACFP is a federal food program under U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations (7 CFR part 226), and the part of it this page covers pays child care centers and day care homes for meals and snacks they serve.
The payment is reimbursement, per meal, for what a facility serves — though centers may also receive commodities or cash in lieu for lunches and suppers, which the tables below do not cover.
Each meal type is priced separately — breakfast, lunch or supper, and snack — and the rate a meal draws depends on your facility type and, for centers, on each child's reimbursement category.
The program's daily ceiling matters as much as the rates.
A center may claim reimbursement for no more than two meals and one snack, or one meal and two snacks, per child per day, and the same limit applies to day care homes (7 CFR 226.17(b)(3), 226.18(c)).
Either combination covers a full day of service — breakfast, lunch and a snack, or one meal and two snacks — and anything beyond the cap is not claimable for that child.
The meal pattern sits behind the rate, and the rules show the linkage where they state an exception: when a center serves a meal modified for a child's disability that does not meet the pattern, reimbursing it takes a medical statement on file (7 CFR 226.20(g)(1) — more in the paperwork section below).
The training topics the rules name run through the same workflow: sponsors must train the key staff of their facilities on meal patterns, meal counts, claims, recordkeeping and reimbursement (7 CFR 226.16).
For an operator, the upshot is that the kitchen routine and the paperwork are one system — the menu, the counts and the claim rise or fall together.
Who is eligible
The annual rates notice prices the two childcare facility types separately: child care centers and day care homes.
A "day care home" in CACFP is a specific thing — a licensed or approved family or group day care home operating under the auspices of a sponsoring organization, and homes cannot join the program independently (7 CFR 226.2, 226.18(b)).
Our research did not confirm whether a center enrolls on its own or through a sponsoring organization; the state agency (below) can tell you.
One eligibility test matters before anything else if your center is for-profit. A for-profit child care center cannot claim CACFP reimbursement for meals served in a month in which fewer than 25 percent of the children in care were eligible for free or reduced-price meals or were Title XX beneficiaries (7 CFR 226.17(b)(4)).
The test reads your enrollment, not your menu — a for-profit center whose enrolled children mostly meet neither condition should see how that lands on its revenue before building a food budget on the program.
How the test is applied to a specific center's numbers is a question for the state agency (below).
Beyond these federal rules, this page's research covers the participation rules and the current rate notice — not any state's application steps.
The rules themselves name a State agency: it defines the key staff who must train and establishes the training content areas for centers (7 CFR 226.17(b)(10)), and it defines the training sessions sponsored facilities attend (7 CFR 226.16).
That state agency is the office to ask what enrolling your facility requires where you operate.
Sponsors vs independent centers
How you participate depends on your facility type.
The rules put duties on child care centers directly — key-staff training and the claims — but the sources this page rests on do not settle whether a center applies on its own or through a sponsoring organization; ask the state agency which routes are open to a center where you operate.
A day care home has no independent option: it operates under the auspices of a public or private nonprofit sponsoring organization, and the sponsor is its administrative front in the program (7 CFR 226.2, 226.18).
The sponsor's role is not just signature-collecting.
Sponsoring organizations must train the key staff of the facilities they oversee before program operations begin and at least annually after that, on the program's working core: meal patterns, meal counts, claims, recordkeeping and reimbursement.
The federal center rule puts the mirror-image duty on centers — key staff, as the state agency defines them, attend program training before the center participates and at least annually afterward — and requires sponsors to hold the homes they oversee to the same standard (7 CFR 226.16, 226.17(b)(10), 226.18).
For a home provider, the sponsor is the practical first call for questions like how your tier is determined, what your meal counts need to look like, and when claims go in; for a center, start with the state agency.
What the rate tables and this page do not settle is the business side of the choice — what each route costs you in administrative time or money — because those figures were not researched here.
Ask the sponsors serving your area and your state agency what each route requires before you commit.
Paperwork and monitoring
The recurring paperwork follows the meal.
Someone records what was served and counts children by meal type, and the claim draws on those counts at the per-meal rates below — keep the records behind it, and let your state agency or sponsor tell you what it reviews.
Training runs on a rule-backed clock: before participation and at least annually after, key staff attend program training — center staff under 7 CFR 226.17(b)(10), sponsored homes through their sponsor under 226.18.
Two record sets drive the claim itself.
In a center, each child's reimbursement category — free, reduced or paid — decides which rate that child's meals draw, so the category paperwork is part of the claim; ask your state agency for its category forms.
In a day care home, the tier works at the household or area level instead: a Tier I home is one whose provider's household meets free or reduced-price income standards, or that is in an area where at least 50 percent of the children at the local school or in the census area are eligible for free or reduced-price meals; any other home is Tier II (7 CFR 226.2).
Special diets are the piece of the paperwork that follows one child rather than the room.
Meals modified for a child's disability must be served at no extra cost, and when a center serves a modified meal that does not meet the pattern, reimbursing it takes a medical statement signed by a state-licensed healthcare professional — and since October 1, 2025, a statement signed by a registered dietitian must also be accepted (7 CFR 226.20(g)(1)).
Program rules and rates change — USDA resets the rates annually — and this page's research does not extend to state-level administration. Confirm the current requirements — training, records, category and tier paperwork, and what monitoring your state agency or sponsor runs — with the state agency for CACFP in your state, or with your sponsor if you are a day care home, before you build the program into your budget or your staffing schedule.
Reimbursement rates
USDA sets CACFP reimbursement rates annually.
The current figures run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, and the tables below are the rates for the contiguous states from Federal Register notice 2026-15071.
Centers are paid by each child's category; day care homes are paid by tier.
| Child care center — per meal, by category | Breakfast | Lunch or supper | Snack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $2.54 | $4.76 | $1.30 |
| Reduced-price | $2.24 | $4.36 | $0.65 |
| Paid | $0.42 | $0.45 | $0.12 |
| Day care home — per meal, by tier | Breakfast | Lunch or supper | Snack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier I | $1.74 | $3.31 | $0.98 |
| Tier II | $0.62 | $1.99 | $0.27 |
Read the tables against your own program: a center's claim prices each child's meals at that child's category, and a home's claim prices every child's meals at the home's tier — all inside the two-meals-and-a-snack (or one-meal-and-two-snacks) daily cap per child.
The figures above are the rates for the contiguous states for this period only; if you operate elsewhere, or once the next period starts, take the figures that apply to you from the current Federal Register notice or your state agency rather than carrying these forward.
Once you have a realistic per-meal number in hand, it belongs in the whole operation rather than in a spreadsheet cell by itself.
Food reimbursement is one revenue line among many — the childcare center budget guide shows where it sits next to payroll, rent and tuition.
This page is employer information, not licensing or legal advice. CACFP runs under U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations (7 CFR part 226), administered in each state by the state agency its rules name; confirm eligibility, requirements and the current rates with that agency — or with your sponsor, if you are a day care home — before you act on any figure on this page.
Before you contact your state agency or a sponsor
- Which facility type you are enrolling as — a center, which should ask whether it applies on its own or through a sponsor, or a day care home, which must operate under a sponsor — and which sponsors serve your area
- What counts as key staff for the required program training, and when the next session runs — the state agency defines key staff, and training comes before participation and at least annually after
- How the free, reduced and paid categories are documented for the children in your care — the category decides which rate each child's meals draw
- Which tier your home falls under, income or area test, before you project Tier I rates
- What meal counts, records and claim forms your state agency or sponsor requires, and when claims are due
- What each route costs you in administrative time or money — through a sponsor or on your own, where that choice is open to you — before you commit
Questions employers ask
How do I enroll my daycare in CACFP?
Start with the state agency for CACFP in your state — the State agency the participation rules name — or, for a day care home, with the sponsoring organizations serving your area. Our research did not confirm whether a child care center applies on its own or through a sponsoring organization, so ask the state agency; a family or group day care home cannot join independently — it operates under a sponsoring organization (7 CFR 226.2, 226.18). The training clock is federal and starts before participation: a center's key staff attend program training before the center participates and at least annually after (7 CFR 226.17(b)(10)), and a sponsor trains the key staff of the facilities it oversees before program operations begin (7 CFR 226.16). The federal rules and rates are on this page; each state's application steps were not researched here, so ask the agency — or your sponsor — what to file.
How much does CACFP reimburse per meal?
For July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, in the contiguous states: a child care center receives $4.76 for a free lunch or supper, $2.54 for a free breakfast and $1.30 for a free snack per child, with lower reduced-price and paid rates. A Tier I day care home receives $3.31 for lunch or supper, $1.74 for breakfast and $0.98 for a snack; Tier II homes receive less. USDA resets the rates annually, so confirm the current figures before you budget.
Do home daycares get the same CACFP rates as centers?
No. The annual notice reimburses the two facility types on different tables: centers by each child's category (free, reduced or paid), and day care homes by tier, with the tier set by the provider household's income or the local school or census area data. A day care home participates under a sponsor on the home table, not the center table. The current-period figures for both tables are in the rates section above.
Is there a limit on how many meals CACFP reimburses?
Yes. A center may claim no more than two meals and one snack, or one meal and two snacks, per child per day, and the same limit applies to day care homes (7 CFR 226.17(b)(3), 226.18(c)). Meals beyond that cap are not reimbursable, so the cap is worth building your daily menu schedule around — breakfast, lunch and one snack, or one meal and two snacks.
More hiring resources
The food program feeds the rooms — staff fill them
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