July 8, 2021
Every July, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reimbursement rates for centers and family child care are published in the Federal Register for the year. This is how they break down for family child care providers this year:
| 2021-2022 CACFP Reimbursement Rates
Effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 |
|
| Tier I – All states except Alaska and Hawaii
Breakfast $1.40 Lunch/supper $2.63 Snack $0.78 |
Tier II – All states except Alaska and Hawaii
Breakfast $0.51 Lunch/supper $1.59 Snack $0.21 |
| Tier I Alaska
Breakfast $2.23 Lunch/supper $4.26 Snack $1.27 |
Tier II Alaska
Breakfast $0.79 Lunch/supper $2.57 Snack $0.35 |
| Tier I Hawaii
Breakfast $1.63 Lunch/supper $3.08 Snack $0.91 |
Tier II Hawaii
Breakfast $0.58 Lunch/supper $1.86 Snack $0.25 |
This reflects a small 1% increase for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 family child care participants in CACFP.
How do they come up with this?
The federal Child Nutrition Act law, set by Congress, requires the all rates in CACFP be revised annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). You may wonder why our friends in centers have reimbursements that are different than family child care providers. This is because the CPI used for family child care provider reimbursements is “Food at Home,” and centers’ reimbursements are set using the CPI “Food Away From Home.” Congress creates the laws that USDA and the CACFP community must follow.
The two-tier system – and a waiver that helps!
The federal Child Nutrition Act law also holds the rules about the two-tier system in CACFP. It is deeply problematic and over the last 25 years since it was created in the law we’ve lost thousands of family child care providers out of the food program.
The United States Department of Agriculture, Food Nutrition Services (USDA/FNS), recognizes how difficult the last year has been on family child care providers, the financial losses you’ve suffered (and continue to suffer) as you provide care and nutritious meals to the children in your communities. The USDA issued a waiver that got started on July 1, making all family child care providers Tier I through June 2022!
Did your state opt in? Do you need help finding out? Email us at policy@nafcc.org.
Advocacy for CACFP
Change might be coming! Can we help make it happen? The Child Nutrition Act law is due for reauthorization in Congress.
