How to apply for CACFP reimbursement as a home daycare

Last updated 2026-07-09

What is CACFP and how does it work for home daycares?

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal nutrition program run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) that pays home daycare providers back for meals they serve to enrolled children. ^[1] It is not a grocery stipend. You cook the food, serve it, write down what happened, and get reimbursed per meal after the fact.

Home daycares join through sponsoring organizations, called Family Day Care Home (FDCH) sponsors. These are usually nonprofits, child care resource agencies, or local government entities that have signed a CACFP agreement directly with the state agency. You never sign a contract with USDA yourself. Your contract is with the sponsor, and the sponsor files your reimbursement claim for you. ^[1]

The program covers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks per day per child. Children must be 12 or under (or up to 18 if they have a disability), and the meals have to meet USDA's Child and Adult Care Meal Pattern requirements. ^[2] The program has run since 1968 and currently reimburses roughly 120,000 family day care homes nationally, according to USDA program data. ^[8]

Run a licensed home daycare and feeding kids anyway? CACFP is basically money for food you're already buying. The paperwork is real. But most providers who stick with it say the checks more than cover their food costs.

Do home daycares apply directly to USDA or through a sponsor?

You go through a sponsor. Every time. USDA does not accept applications directly from individual family day care homes. ^[1]

A sponsoring organization is a public or private nonprofit entity that holds an agreement with your state's CACFP administering agency, usually the state Department of Education or Department of Health. The sponsor recruits and trains providers, reviews your monthly meal claims, runs site visits, and cuts your reimbursement check or ACH payment. ^[1]

To find a sponsor in your state, start with your state CACFP agency's website or the USDA FNS state agency contact list. Some states publish approved sponsors openly. Child Care Aware of America also keeps resources that help providers track down local sponsoring organizations. ^[3] In rural areas, finding an active sponsor can take weeks, so start the search early.

One thing to watch: in a handful of states, the state agency itself sponsors home daycares. If your state uses that model, you apply directly to the state. You're still applying to a sponsor, it just happens to be a government entity.

What are the eligibility requirements for home daycare providers?

Your home daycare has to clear several baseline requirements before a sponsor can approve you for CACFP. ^[1]

First, you need a current, valid license, registration, certification, or approval to operate as a family day care home under state or local law. An unlicensed provider cannot participate, period. If your state has a licensing exemption for small home daycares (common for providers caring for one or two children), ask your sponsor whether you qualify under a state-recognized approval or registration pathway. ^[2]

Second, the children in your care have to be eligible. They must be 12 years old or under (or up to age 18 with a disability), and you need documentation that they're enrolled in your program, meaning a signed enrollment form from the parent or guardian. ^[2]

Third, you must be the provider of record. You cannot claim meals for children you do not personally supervise and feed.

Fourth, you cannot be debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from federal programs. Sponsors check this against the national disqualification list.

You do not need to be low-income yourself to participate. Reimbursement rates vary based on the income level of the families you serve (Tier I vs. Tier II, covered below), but the program is open to every licensed home daycare that meets the requirements above. ^[1]

Still sorting out your license? Our guide on home daycare insurance covers the other baseline requirements that surface during licensing, including the liability coverage many sponsors also want to see.

What is the difference between Tier I and Tier II reimbursement rates?

This is where a lot of providers get confused, so let's be direct. Tier I pays more. Tier II pays less.

You qualify as Tier I if you personally meet income eligibility guidelines (household income at or below 185% of the federal poverty level), OR if your home sits in a census tract where 50% or more of the children qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. ^[1] Your sponsor uses census data and your household information to set your tier.

Tier II is the default if you don't qualify as Tier I on income or location. Tier II providers can still earn Tier I rates for individual children when those children meet income eligibility (at or below 185% of the federal poverty level based on family size and income). ^[1] Parents report income on the enrollment form, and the sponsor tracks which children get which rate.

Here are the actual reimbursement rates for CACFP Family Day Care Homes, effective July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 ^[4]:

Meal Type	Tier I	Tier II
Breakfast	$1.59	$0.62
Lunch or Supper	$3.03	$1.84
Supplement (Snack)	$0.97	$0.53

These rates get adjusted every year for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. They apply in the contiguous 48 states. Alaska and Hawaii have higher rates. ^[4]

A Tier I provider serving 4 children breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack every weekday can realistically collect over $600 a month from CACFP alone, before any parent tuition. That's real money for a home daycare running on thin margins. Counting the daycare cost picture for your business means treating CACFP as revenue, not a rounding error.

Step-by-step: how do you actually apply for CACFP as a home daycare?

Here is the actual sequence, in order.

Step 1: Find a sponsor in your area. Contact your state CACFP administering agency (find them through the USDA FNS state agency contact list ^[1]) or search "CACFP sponsor [your state]." Call them. Many sponsor organizations run waiting lists or cover limited service areas, so don't assume the first name you find is taking new providers.

Step 2: Complete the sponsor's provider application. Every sponsor has its own packet. You'll typically submit a copy of your current daycare license or registration, your household size and income information (for tier determination), a list of enrolled children with birth dates, signed parent enrollment forms for each child, and your bank account information for direct deposit.

Step 3: Attend mandatory training. Sponsors have to train you on USDA meal patterns before you can start claiming. ^[1] Training covers what foods count, portion sizes by age group, and how to complete your daily meal count forms. Some sponsors do this in person. Most now offer it online.

Step 4: Pass a pre-approval visit. Before your first claim can be paid, your sponsor has to run an initial site visit to your home to confirm you operate as described and that you have the equipment and space to serve compliant meals. ^[1] It's usually short, 20 to 45 minutes.

Step 5: Start documenting meals and submitting monthly claims. Once approved, you record every meal you serve every day: date, meal type, names of children present, and foods served. At each month's end, you submit that data to your sponsor (often through an online portal, sometimes paper forms). The sponsor reviews it, sends the aggregate claim to the state, and reimburses you, usually within 45 days of the month end. ^[1]

The full pre-approval process, from finding a sponsor to your first reimbursement, typically takes four to twelve weeks. It depends on your sponsor's processing speed and how fast you can pull your documents together.

What meal patterns do you have to follow to get reimbursed?

USDA sets specific meal patterns for CACFP that decide what you must serve for a meal to count. ^[2] These are not optional suggestions. Serve a meal that misses the pattern and it doesn't get reimbursed.

The patterns were updated in 2017 to line up more closely with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The update added whole grain requirements, cut back on juice, and eliminated flavored milk for children under six. ^[2]

A reimbursable lunch for a child age 3 to 5 needs 2 oz of meat or meat alternate (cheese, eggs, beans), three-quarter cup of fruit and/or vegetable (at least two different kinds), half cup of grain (whole grain-rich), and half pint of fluid milk. Portion sizes change by age group (infant, ages 1-2, ages 3-5, ages 6-12). Your sponsor's training materials include the complete chart.

What disqualifies a meal: serving juice more than once a day as the fruit component, serving flavored milk to children under 6, serving grain-based desserts (cookies or cake) as the grain component, or simply forgetting to write it down at the time. That last one trips up a lot of providers. USDA requires meal counts to be recorded at the point of service, meaning you note who ate before you clear the plates, not at day's end from memory. ^[2]

Building a food routine for the kids in your care gets easier with a real preschool curriculum shaping the day, so mealtimes land at consistent times you can document without scrambling.

What records do you need to keep for CACFP compliance?

Recordkeeping is where most compliance problems start. Sponsors have to run unannounced site visits at least three times a year, and state agencies do their own monitoring on top of that. ^[1] If your records don't match your claims, you can be forced to repay reimbursements you already banked.

You need to keep, at minimum:

• Daily meal count records (date, meal type, names of children present)
• Menu records showing what foods were served at each meal
• Enrollment forms for each child, signed by the parent, including the child's normal days and hours of attendance
• Income eligibility statements (for Tier I individual child claims)
• Attendance records

Most sponsors require you to hold records for at least three years from the date of the claim. ^[1] Some states set longer retention periods. Keep paper records in a labeled folder or use an approved digital tool. Your sponsor may hand you forms or a web-based system.

Now, fraud. CACFP has had real, documented fraud cases, including providers claiming meals for children not in care or inflating head counts. USDA and state agencies take this seriously, and convictions happen. The Minnesota daycare fraud investigations show what large-scale CACFP fraud looks like and what providers face for it. Keep accurate records, claim only what you actually served, and you're fine.

How much can a home daycare realistically earn from CACFP?

The honest answer: it depends on your tier, how many children you serve, and how many meals a day you claim.

A Tier I home daycare open Monday through Friday, 52 weeks minus holidays (roughly 245 days a year), serving 6 children breakfast, lunch, and one snack daily, could generate roughly $8,200 to $10,000 a year in CACFP reimbursements at 2024-25 rates. ^[4] That assumes full attendance, which never actually happens. Real numbers for most providers run lower, probably $3,000 to $7,000 a year for a 4 to 6 child home daycare.

Tier II providers earn a lot less. That same scenario at Tier II rates (no Tier I individual children) might yield $4,500 to $5,500 a year.

Child Care Aware of America's research shows home-based provider incomes stay low nationally, and CACFP is one of the few federal programs that directly supplements home daycare operator income without touching parent subsidy eligibility. ^[3] Small amounts stack up. Even $300 to $400 a month in food reimbursements meaningfully cuts the out-of-pocket food budget for a small operation.

ChildCareComp's compliance toolkit includes a CACFP income estimator if you want to model your own numbers by tier and enrollment before you commit to the application.

Can you be removed from CACFP, and what triggers it?

Yes. Sponsors can terminate a provider's CACFP participation, and so can state agencies. Common triggers: falsifying meal counts, claiming meals for unenrolled children, failing to meet licensing requirements, failing corrective action after a monitoring visit, or simply not submitting monthly claims. ^[1]

If a sponsor terminates you, you have appeal rights under federal regulations (7 CFR Part 226). ^[7] The process varies by state but generally runs a written notice from the sponsor, a window to request an appeal hearing, and a review by the state agency.

Being terminated for cause, fraud specifically, can bring permanent disqualification from all USDA nutrition programs, civil monetary penalties, and criminal prosecution. USDA keeps a national disqualification list. Sponsors check it before approving any new provider. ^[1]

The practical takeaway is short: don't claim meals you didn't serve, don't round up attendance, and don't sign enrollment forms for children who aren't actually in your program. The reimbursements are genuinely useful. They're nowhere near worth a federal fraud case.

Does CACFP participation affect your home daycare taxes?

CACFP reimbursements count as income for tax purposes, with one important exception. USDA CACFP reimbursements for meals are treated as nontaxable to the extent they cover your actual food costs. Any amount above your actual food costs is taxable. ^[5]

For most providers, reimbursements come close to real food costs without wildly exceeding them, so the tax exposure stays limited. IRS Publication 587 covers business-use-of-home rules and addresses CACFP specifically for family day care providers. ^[5]

Separately, if you participate in CACFP and use IRS Form 8829 for home office deductions, be careful not to double-count food expenses you were already reimbursed for. Your tax preparer should know the CACFP rules. Not all of them do, so ask specifically.

Clean business financials and current insurance coverage matter right alongside CACFP participation. Our guides on home daycare insurance and daycare liability insurance cover the financial protection side.

What happens during a CACFP monitoring visit?

Monitoring visits are a required part of the program, and they can be announced or unannounced. Sponsors have to visit each provider at least three times a year, with at least one visit unannounced. ^[1] State agencies also review sponsors' operations, which can include visits to individual provider homes.

During a typical visit, the reviewer will check that the number of children present matches your enrollment records, watch whether a meal is being served and whether it meets meal pattern requirements, review your recent meal count records and menus, confirm you still hold a current daycare license, and verify your operating conditions haven't changed materially since your application.

Being ready for an unannounced visit means keeping records current at all times, not catching up a week's worth of meal counts the night before month end. It also means your kitchen and dining area stay sanitary and appropriate for food service. A basic daycare cleaning routine you actually follow daily makes this low-stress.

If a visit finds a deficiency, the sponsor issues a corrective action plan with a specific deadline. Minor problems (a missing food item on one day's menu record) are usually correctable without losing reimbursements. Systematic problems (patterns of overclaiming) trigger more serious review and potential repayment demands.

Are there states or situations where CACFP doesn't apply?

CACFP operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. ^[8] There's no state where the program doesn't exist for home daycares. There are, however, practical situations where it may not be reachable for you.

If no active FDCH sponsor operates in your area, you simply can't participate, no matter how eligible you are. Rural providers hit this gap sometimes. Contact your state CACFP agency for help finding sponsors with open capacity, or ask whether the state agency itself can serve as your sponsor.

Providers who are unlicensed, operating under an exemption that doesn't count as a recognized approval, or serving only children from their own household cannot participate. ^[2] "Own household" children are specifically excluded from CACFP claims. If you care for your own kids plus neighbors' kids, you claim only the non-household children.

Providers working out of a facility rather than a personal residence may not qualify as a "family day care home" under CACFP definitions. They might instead be categorized as a child care center, which has different CACFP rules and applies through a separate pathway entirely.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get approved for CACFP as a home daycare?

From initial sponsor contact to first reimbursement, plan on four to twelve weeks. Finding an active sponsor, completing paperwork, attending training, and passing the pre-approval site visit all add time. If your sponsor has a backlog of new provider applications, it can take longer. Start the process well before you need the money, and ask your sponsor for a realistic timeline specific to their organization.

Can you participate in CACFP if your home daycare is unlicensed or exempt from licensing?

Generally, no. CACFP requires that your home daycare be licensed, registered, certified, or otherwise approved under state or local law. If your state has a licensing exemption for small home daycares and that exemption counts as an approval pathway, your sponsor can clarify whether you qualify. Providers with no formal approval cannot participate. Getting licensed first resolves this and opens other benefits beyond CACFP.

Do parents have to do anything for you to claim CACFP reimbursements for their children?

Yes. Parents must sign an enrollment form that includes the child's normal days and hours of attendance. For Tier I individual child claims (when you're a Tier II provider claiming the higher rate for a specific income-eligible child), parents must also complete an income eligibility statement. These forms come from your sponsor. Without a signed enrollment form, you cannot legally claim a meal for that child.

What foods do not qualify for CACFP reimbursement?

Non-creditable foods include grain-based desserts (cookies, cake, pie, donuts), flavored milk for children under 6, juice served more than once per day as the fruit or vegetable component, and foods below the minimum portion sizes for the child's age group. Commercially prepared foods can qualify if they meet USDA specifications. Your sponsor's training materials include a full creditable foods list with USDA's product identification guide.

How does CACFP handle infants? Is the reimbursement rate different?

Infants (birth through 11 months) have their own CACFP meal pattern that emphasizes breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula and age-appropriate solid foods introduced after 6 months. Infant meal reimbursement rates differ from child rates. The infant meal pattern was updated in 2017 and requires specific documentation of what was served. Your sponsor provides the infant-specific meal pattern chart during training.

Can you switch CACFP sponsors if you're unhappy with your current one?

Yes. You can terminate your agreement with one sponsor and apply with a different sponsor operating in your area. There is no federal rule preventing this. Check your current sponsor agreement for any notice requirements (30 days is common). Switching resets your approval timeline, and there may be a gap in reimbursable months during the transition. Make sure another sponsor actually serves your area before you leave your current one.

Does CACFP reimbursement count as income on your taxes?

CACFP reimbursements that cover your actual food costs are generally not taxable. Any reimbursement amount above your real food expenditures is taxable income. The IRS addresses CACFP for family day care providers in Publication 587. Keep your grocery receipts and food-related records so you can show actual costs. Work with a tax preparer who knows CACFP. Not all do, so ask before assuming.

How many meals per day can you claim for each child under CACFP?

You can claim up to two meals and one snack per child per day, or one meal and two snacks per child per day, whichever combination fits your program hours. You cannot claim more than two full meals and two snacks per child per day total, and the specific combination allowed depends on the hours children are in your care. Your sponsor will clarify which meal types you can claim based on your program hours.

What is the difference between CACFP and the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)?

CACFP reimburses providers for meals served to enrolled children. CCDF (the federal child care subsidy block grant) helps low-income families pay for child care through subsidies that flow to providers on behalf of eligible families. ^[6] They are completely separate programs with separate applications. Many home daycare providers use both: CCDF covers tuition subsidies for qualifying families, while CACFP covers food costs. You apply for each through different agencies.

Can a provider be on CACFP if they primarily watch school-age children who arrive in the afternoon?

Yes, as long as the children are 12 or under (or up to 18 with a disability) and are enrolled in your home daycare program. If children arrive after school, you might primarily claim snack and supper rather than breakfast and lunch. The same meal pattern rules apply. You document which children were present at each meal type and claim accordingly. Make sure your enrollment forms reflect actual arrival and departure times.

What happens if you accidentally claim a meal that didn't meet the meal pattern?

If a monitoring review or audit finds a non-compliant meal, that meal gets disallowed and you may need to repay the reimbursement for it. For isolated mistakes (a single day's vegetable portion was slightly short), the consequence is usually repayment of that one meal, not termination. Systematic problems get treated more seriously. If you catch a claim error before your sponsor does, contact your sponsor proactively. Correcting it yourself looks very different from being caught.

Is there help available for home daycare providers who struggle with CACFP paperwork?

Yes. Your sponsor is required to provide training and technical assistance as part of their agreement with the state. If forms or meal documentation are giving you trouble, call your sponsor's contact person directly. Child Care Aware of America's network also offers resources. ^[3] Some sponsors run online portals that auto-calculate meal counts and flag missing items before you submit, which cuts errors sharply. Ask your sponsor whether they have a digital claim system.

Sources

1. USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Child and Adult Care Food Program Family Day Care Homes: Home daycares participate through sponsoring organizations; sponsors must conduct at least three monitoring visits per year including one unannounced; records must be retained for at least three years.
2. USDA FNS, CACFP Meal Patterns for Children: Meal pattern requirements for reimbursable meals including age-specific portion sizes, whole grain requirements, and juice limitations updated in 2017.
3. Child Care Aware of America: CACFP cited as one of the few federal programs directly supplementing home daycare operator income; home-based provider incomes remain low nationally.
4. USDA FNS, CACFP Reimbursement Rates: 2024-25 CACFP reimbursement rates: Tier I breakfast $1.59, lunch $3.03, snack $0.97; Tier II breakfast $0.62, lunch $1.84, snack $0.53.
5. IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home (Including Use by Daycare Providers): CACFP reimbursements for family day care providers are treated as nontaxable to the extent they cover actual food costs; amounts exceeding actual food costs are taxable income.
6. Office of Child Care, HHS, Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program: CCDF is the federal child care subsidy block grant that helps low-income families pay for child care, separate from CACFP which reimburses food costs.
7. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 7 CFR Part 226, Child and Adult Care Food Program: Federal regulations governing CACFP including provider eligibility, appeal rights, sponsor responsibilities, and Tier I and Tier II determination requirements.
8. USDA FNS, Child and Adult Care Food Program: CACFP currently reimburses approximately 120,000 family day care homes nationally; program open to all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.