Child and Adult Care Food Program

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a type of United States federal assistance provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to states in order to provide a daily subsidized food service for an estimated 3.3 million children and 120,000 elderly or mentally or physically impaired adults in non-residential, day-care settings. It is a branch within the Policy and Program Development Division of the Child nutrition programs, along with the School Programs Branch, which runs the National School Lunch Program. The program is commonly referred to as the Child Care, Child Care Food, Adult Care, or Adult Care Food Program, and is often operating in conjunction with other child and adult day-care programs, such as the Head Start. Its federal identification number, or CFDA number, is 10.558. Section 17 of the National School Lunch Act, and USDA issues the program regulations under 7 CFR part 226.

The program’s benefits consist of nutritious meals and snacks served to eligible children and adults who are enrolled for care at participating child care centers, adult day care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, after-school at-risk programs, family and group day care homes, and homeless and emergency shelters. These centers and shelters can be public and private non-profit centers, proprietary organizations, schools, private homes, and elderly centers, among others, on condition that they all comply with federal, state and local licensing and approval requirements. Through CACFP, children and older adults gain access to "nutritious foods that contribute to the wellness, healthy growth, and development of young children, and the health and wellness of older adults and chronically impaired disabled persons."

The USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the program through grants-in-aid to states. The program is administered within most states by its designated educational agency, such as New York’s Education Department. In certain states, the program is administered by an alternate agency, such as the state department of health, family and/or social services. At the discretion of the state’s governor, different agencies may administer the program’s child-care and adult day-care components, such as Wildwood C.A.C.F.P in Colorado. In the state of Virginia, the program is directly administered by the Food and Nutrition Service Mid-Atlantic Regional Office (MARO).

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