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Appendix E12. Family Day Care Homes Monitor
Handbook
This information is being collected from local government agencies and businesses (institutions)
to enable institutions wishing to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
to submit applications to the administering agencies, execute agreements with those agencies,
and claim the reimbursement to which they are entitled by law. Section 17 of the National School
Lunch Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1766), authorizes the CACFP. This collection is required to
obtain or retain benefits and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) uses the information
collected to conduct reviews that determine whether or not institutions are observing the
requirements of the Program established by regulations and statute. In addition, the information
collection is necessary for administering agencies to monitor Program operations to ensure
compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements. Under the Privacy Act of 1974, any
personally identifying information obtained will be kept private to the extent of the law.
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The valid OMB control number for this
information collection is 0584-0055. The time required to complete this information collection is
estimated to average 36 hours per response. This burden consists of the time it takes to review
all instructions and handbooks issued by FNS and the Department to clarify or explain existing
regulations. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection
of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place,
Alexandria, VA 22314, ATTN: PRA (0584-0055). Do not return a completed form to this
address.
OMB
#0584-0055
Expiration Date
xx/xx/20xx
Family Day Care Homes
Monitor Handbook
A Child and Adult Care Food Program Handbook
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Food and Nutrition Service
February 2012
USDA is an equal oppportunity provider and employer.
U.S Department of Agriculture
Food and Nutrition Service
February 2012
All meals served to participants under the Child and Adult Care Food Program are served at no
separate charge regardless of race, color, sex, age, disability, or national origin.
There is no discrimination in admissions policy, meal service, or in the use of facilities.
Any complaints of discrimination should be submitted in writing to the Administrator,
Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center, Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22302.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
Who Administers the Program? .................................................................................................... 3
About this Guidance...................................................................................................................... 3
How FDCH Providers Join CACFP ............................................................................................... 4
Part 1: Monitor Responsibilities and Training ............................................................................... 5
A. Responsibilities ................................................................................................................... 5
B. Annual Training for Monitors............................................................................................... 6
Part 2: Frequency and Types of Reviews ..................................................................................... 7
A. Pre-approval Visits.............................................................................................................. 7
B. New Facilities...................................................................................................................... 7
C. Meal Service Review .......................................................................................................... 7
D. Follow-up Review ............................................................................................................... 8
E. Questions and Answers ...................................................................................................... 9
Part 3: Review Elements ............................................................................................................. 10
A. Required Notices .............................................................................................................. 10
B. Recordkeeping ................................................................................................................. 10
C. Provider Classification ...................................................................................................... 14
D. Licensing/Approval ........................................................................................................... 15
E. Health and Safety ............................................................................................................. 15
F. Five-day Reconciliation..................................................................................................... 16
G. Household Contact ........................................................................................................... 17
H. Training ............................................................................................................................. 17
I.
Questions and Answers .................................................................................................... 18
Part 4: Monitoring the Meal Service ............................................................................................ 19
A. Meal Pattern ..................................................................................................................... 19
B. Service Styles ................................................................................................................... 22
C. Meal Limitations ................................................................................................................ 23
D. Substitutions ..................................................................................................................... 23
E. Milk ................................................................................................................................... 24
F. Water ................................................................................................................................ 25
G. When Meals Are Served ................................................................................................... 25
H. Meals that MAY NOT be Claimed..................................................................................... 26
I.
Questions and Answers .................................................................................................... 26
Part 5: FDCH Serious Deficiency Process .................................................................................. 28
A. Serious Deficiencies ......................................................................................................... 28
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 1
B. Corrective Action .............................................................................................................. 28
C. Suspension ....................................................................................................................... 29
D. Appeals ............................................................................................................................. 30
E. Agreement Termination and Disqualification .................................................................... 30
F. Questions and Answers .................................................................................................... 30
Part 6: Resources ....................................................................................................................... 32
Part 7: Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 33
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 2
Introduction
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally funded program that provides
payments for eligible meals served to participants who meet age and income requirements. This
handbook is for monitors of family day care homes (FDCHs). An FDCH is an organized
nonresidential child care program for children, generally 12 years of age or younger, operated in
a private home, and licensed or approved to provide care. In order to participate in CACFP,
FDCHs must enter into an agreement with a sponsoring organization (“sponsor”).
The CACFP helps FDCH providers serve well-balanced, nutritious meals to the children in their
care. Meals served by participating providers must meet minimum guidelines set by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). Serving nutritious meals helps improve and maintain the
health and nutritional status of children in day care and can help young children develop good
eating habits.
Who Administers the Program?
The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers CACFP at the national level. Within
each State, the Program is administered by the State Department of Education or another
agency designated by the State.
A sponsor prepares monthly meal reimbursement claims and oversees the operations of the
homes under its sponsorship. Sponsors are required to monitor all homes under their
sponsorship to ensure providers are in compliance with meal pattern, recordkeeping, and other
Program requirements.
About this Guidance
In this handbook, you will find information on:
•
how the CACFP is organized;
•
your responsibilities as an FDCH monitor;
•
the meal pattern requirements for meals being served; and
•
the required regulatory review elements.
This guidance is meant to give you, an FDCH monitor, a general working knowledge of the
CACFP and your duties and responsibilities as the sponsor’s representative.
CACFP is a Federal program that is administered by individual State agencies. This means that
there might be differences in how the Program is run from State to State. There also might be
differences in the forms that States and sponsors use, so the ones included in this handbook
are samples only.
As noted above, CACFP is administered at the Federal level by FNS. FNS develops program
regulations and policy that State agencies and Program participants are required to follow.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 3
Program regulations are published in Title 7, Part 226 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR). Throughout the handbook, we have provided citations to the regulations, so that you
know where the requirement came from. The regulations are available online at:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Regs-Policy/Regulations.htm.
We also have provided citations to policy memoranda that include additional guidance on
Program requirements. The policy memoranda are also available online at:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Care/Regs-Policy/PolicyMemoranda.htm.
How FDCH Providers Join CACFP
To participate in CACFP, FDCH providers are required to work with a CACFP sponsor.
Sponsors, in turn, have agreements with the State agency that administers the CACFP (for
example, the State Department of Education or Department of Human Services). Sponsors
accept all administrative and financial responsibility for operating the Program in the homes they
sponsor. They also collect and maintain all necessary program records and prepare and submit
a combined monthly reimbursement claim for all of their sponsored homes. Sponsors then
receive monthly meal reimbursements from the State agency that they then pass to their
sponsored homes to help pay for meals served to eligible children in care.
Sponsors also provide management guidance and oversee FDCH providers through a
monitoring system. Sponsors have the responsibility to ensure that FDCH providers serve
nutritious meals that meet the CACFP meal patterns and are in compliance with the regulations
and policies of the Program and the sponsor. Sponsors rely on monitors to provide a first-hand
accounting of the FDCH providers that they sponsor.
Your role as a CACFP monitor is especially important.
You are an important link between the sponsor and the
FDCH provider. As the sponsor's representative, you will
have to develop and maintain open communications and
cooperative relationships with providers and any staff
they might employ, while at the same time identifying
any areas of noncompliance. You also will work with the
providers to help correct any problems and give
additional training, or technical assistance, as
necessary.
PRACTICE TIP
Although you should be friendly
and courteous to the providers you
monitor, you should not see your
role as making a social visit. You
are in a professional relationship,
conducting a review of Program
operations to monitor the
provider’s compliance with
Program requirements.
Open communication with your supervisor is important so that she/he knows of any problems
and what is being done to correct them. This communication will also provide opportunities for
additional guidance you may need. The sponsor is financially responsible for any meals served
incorrectly or served to ineligible children. This responsibility could result in the sponsor losing a
large amount of money, or even termination from the Program, if problems are not corrected,
making it even more important that problems be properly identified and corrected.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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Part 1: Monitor Responsibilities and Training
Effective monitoring is necessary for many reasons. Monitoring ensures that homes operate
according to Program guidelines and that accurate records are available to justify
reimbursement for properly served meals. Just as important, monitoring ensures that children
are receiving nutritious meals. To be an effective monitor, you will be required to spend enough
time at each home to review the CACFP operations. It is important that you know the CACFP
requirements so you can accurately identify problems and recommend effective solutions.
A. Responsibilities
As an official representative of the sponsor, you will be responsible for:
•
planning and preparing for your assigned reviews;
•
assessing whether the home has corrected problems noted in previous review(s);
•
ensuring that providers maintain required documentation and records, including:
9
9
9
9
9
documentation of licensing or approval;
the number of meals served, by type;
menus;
attendance records; and
complete and current enrollment forms.
•
reconciling any discrepancies in meal counts and attendance or enrollment records;
•
conducting a reconciliation of the home’s meal counts with enrollment and attendance
records for a five-day period ;
•
assigning corrective action for problems encountered;
•
informing the sponsor about problems found in homes and ensuring that corrective
action is completed and documented;
•
preparing complete reports of reviews and ensuring that copies of the reports are
included in an official file for each home;
•
conducting training as necessary and ensuring that the provider has attended required
training;
•
ensuring compliance with basic health and safety requirements and immediately
reporting to the appropriate authority any serious problems observed;
•
ensuring compliance with child/staff ratio requirements and immediately reporting to the
appropriate authority any violations observed;
•
revisiting homes to conduct follow-up reviews as necessary; and
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 5
•
ensuring that the meals claimed are served to enrolled children regardless of race, color,
national origin, age, sex, or disability [7 CFR §226.16(d)(4)].
Some FDCH providers and staff may not be familiar with CACFP and its meal pattern
requirements, or they may not know how to keep records. During your reviews, you might find it
necessary to explain the importance of following the Program rules and discuss how a home’s
operations can be improved. This type of ongoing training is a basic responsibility of each
monitor and it is important to document this provider training in your monitoring report.
B. Annual Training for Monitors
Sponsors are required to hold annual training sessions on Program duties for monitors and
other sponsor personnel [7 CFR §226.15(e)(14)]. The topics covered may change depending on
the needs of the sponsor, but the training will probably include information on the following
areas:
•
the CACFP requirements for participating FDCHs;
•
monitor duties and responsibilities;
•
monitor review forms and other records you may need to keep, such as mileage records;
•
FDCH eligibility requirements;
•
civil rights compliance and enforcement;
•
how to monitor meal counts, conduct five-day reconciliations, and other review
requirements; and
•
how to schedule reviews and how monitors are assigned to facilities.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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Part 2: Frequency and Types of Reviews
FDCH providers must be reviewed onsite at least three times per year. Even if you review a
provider’s records from your office, you still have to visit the home. Two of the three annual
reviews must be unannounced, and must be conducted during the home’s regular hours of day
care operation. No more than six months may pass between reviews. An attempted review,
such as when a provider is not home, does not count toward one of the three required reviews 7
CFR §226.16(d)(4)(iii)].
The timing of unannounced reviews must be varied and
PRACTICE TIP
they may not follow a consistent, predictable pattern.
For example, unannounced reviews for a particular
If, during a review, you ever feel
home would not be varied and unpredictable if the
that a child is in immediate danger,
provider knows that the monitor always comes during
you must call the proper
the third week of January, the third week of May, and
authorities immediately and stay at
the third week of September, or never comes during the
the site until authorities have
first week of the month because the sponsor staff are
arrived. See the Health and Safety
busy processing claims. You are less likely to uncover
section for more information.
problems and issues if providers can guess when their
unannounced reviews are likely to occur [CACFP 162011, Varied Timing of Unannounced Reviews in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, April
7, 2011].
A.
Pre-approval Visits
Sponsors must make pre-approval visits to homes that wish to participate in the Program.
During the pre-approval visit, the monitor must discuss Program benefits and requirements and
make sure that the FDCH provider is capable of providing the proposed food service [7 CFR
§226.16(d)(1)].
B.
New Facilities
FDCHs that are new to CACFP must be reviewed at least once during the first four weeks of
Program operations. During this review, you should go over the primary Program topics such as
meal counts, recordkeeping, and the meal pattern requirements. This discussion helps lessen
the possibility of critical errors that could result in meal disallowances [7 CFR
§226.16(d)(4)(iii)(C)].
C.
Meal Service Review
At least one of the unannounced reviews must include observation of a meal service (this is in
addition to the completion of all Review Elements required by 7 CFR §226.16(d)(4)(i). You need
to make sure that the children are being fed nutritious meals in clean surroundings [7 CFR
§226.16(d)(4)(iii)(B)].
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 7
During a meal service review, you should make sure:
•
the food served matches the provider’s menu;
•
the meal meets the CACFP meal pattern requirements (see Meal Pattern Requirements
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/programbasics/meals/meal_patterns.htm);
•
any substitutions – foods that are not included on the original menu – are documented
by the provider;
•
portion sizes are appropriate for the age of the children; and
•
the meal service begins and ends at the correct time.
Additionally, you should note whether or not the meals were prepared within the health and
safety standards required by the sponsor and the local or State health authorities. If you do not
observe an actual meal service, you should note the meal and the meal items the provider tells
you were served.
D. Follow-up Review
If a provider is not following the Program rules, you will cite this as a finding. If, for example, a
provider is not serving enough food, records are not up to date, or the meals served do not
match the menus, a finding should be documented.
Not all findings are the same. Some will be more serious and will require you to declare the
provider seriously deficient. For more information, see Serious Deficiencies.
A corrective action plan is a written response by the provider that says how a finding(s) will be
corrected. When you have documented a finding, the provider is required to take corrective
action that tell you how the finding will be corrected and within what timeframe. You should
make sure the provider understands what needs to be corrected to properly continue with the
Program.
Follow-up reviews may be conducted to make sure that any problems found during a previous
review have been permanently corrected. In the case of a finding that rises to the level of a
serious deficiency, your follow-up review must be unannounced. Some deficiencies require a
shorter return time to do a follow-up review than others and may require more than one visit.
Usually, you will revisit a provider within a month to make sure the serious deficiencies have
been corrected. If permanent corrections have not been made, you must document the repeat
violation and the provider may not be able to stay on the Program [7 CFR §226.16(d)(4)(v)].
You also will have to follow through with any other actions, like disallowing
meals, if necessary. During your visits, you might encounter situations where you
have to disallow a meal(s). That means the provider will not be paid for those
meals. Those situations are noted with a
in this handbook.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 8
E. Questions and Answers
1. If an FDCH serves meals on weekends and holidays, is the sponsor required to
monitor meals during those times, even if it is cost prohibitive to do so?
Yes. If a provider is approved to serve weekend, evening, or holiday meals the sponsor
must monitor a “roughly proportional” number of those meal services. Sponsors that have
limitations to the extent to which they can meet Program oversight requirements should not
accept facilities that exceed their management capabilities [CACFP 04-2006, Sponsor
Monitoring of Facilities in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), May, 23, 2006].
2. During a meal service observation, is a sponsor monitor required to be in the facility
for the entire meal service period?
Not necessarily. If the monitor has completed all of the necessary review elements, the
monitor may leave. If the monitor has come to review a home at a scheduled meal time and
no one is present, the monitor can either wait for the entire meal service time to verify that
the provider is missing the meal service or conduct a review at another nearby home and
return before the end of the meal service, either to conduct the review or to verify that the
provider missed the meal service.
3. Does overseeing “all meal services being claimed” mean that a sponsor’s facility
reviews must be exactly proportional to the percentage of each meal type being
claimed by its facilities?
No. Reviews do not have to be exactly proportional to the percentage of meals claimed, but
should be roughly proportional to the percentage of each type of meal being claimed by its
facilities overall. In addition to conducting facility reviews, a sponsor might also provide
oversight by conducting household contacts in facilities serving breakfasts, suppers, or
weekend meals, in order to have parents verify their children’s attendance at these meal
services [CACFP 04-2006, Sponsor Monitoring of Facilities in the Child and Adult Care Food
Program (CACFP), May 23, 2006].
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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Part 3: Review Elements
During reviews of FDCHs, you must:
•
check whether past problems noted on
previous reviews have been corrected;
•
compare meal counts with enrollment
and attendance records for a consecutive
five-day operating period during the
current or previous claiming month; and
•
complete an assessment of the home’s
compliance with the following required
review elements:
9 licensing/approval requirements,
9 training attendance,
9 annual updating and content of
enrollment forms, and
9 menu, meal count records, and
attendance records [7 CFR
§226.16(d)(4)(i)].
PRACTICE TIP
You can use the pre-review
preparation to begin—and in some
cases complete—portions of your
review of each required element.
This way, you can identify any
elements that might need extra
attention during the onsite review.
As you prepare to conduct a review,
first check the records to see what is
in the home’s file. Make sure to note
if there were any problems during
the last review. Then research as
many of the required review
elements as possible during your
pre-review preparation. Look for
inconsistencies in claiming patterns.
For example, if the provider always
claims five meals, but there are only
three children present when you
visit, ask the provider about it.
The five days of the 5-day reconciliation must be
consecutive and they must be days the provider actually operated. If the FDCH was closed for
an unexpected reason for example, weather or sickness, do not include that day in the
reconciliation. If the FDCH is open on holidays and weekends, count those days in the
reconciliation.
Before you leave the home, you should complete your forms and discuss any corrective
action(s) that must be taken. This procedure is to make sure that both you and the provider
have the same record of what occurred during the visit.
A. Required Notices
A sponsor can require providers to tell parents or guardians of children enrolled in CACFP
facilities about the Program and its benefits [7 CFR §226.18(b)(16)]. If your sponsor has this
requirement, you need to make sure that providers have the notice and are giving it to parents
and guardians. An example of this type of notice is “Building for the Future.” It is available for
download at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Publications/pdf/4Future.pdf.
A Spanish version is available at:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Publications/pdf/Build4Future.pdf.
B. Recordkeeping
For all reviews, providers are expected to have their CACFP paperwork up to date and readily
available. Although the sponsor may keep copies of the records, you must make sure that each
provider keeps the following original documentation onsite:
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 10
•
Documentation of current license or approval;
•
menus;
•
each child’s enrollment form;
•
daily records of the number of children in attendance; and
•
daily records of the number of meals, by type, served to enrolled children.
These records support actual claims, and must be kept for three years after the date of
submission of the final claim for the fiscal year to which they pertain. Records can be kept in
hard copy or electronic format, provided that they are readily available. For example,
providers must keep the records for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2011, until
October 2014.
Providers may store the second and third past year records off-site, such as in storage, but they
must be in the provider’s control and the provider has to be able to get to them within a
reasonable amount of time. Providers must keep records relating to the last 12 months plus the
current month (for a total of 13 months) in their homes for review [CACFP 03-2009, Record
Maintenance Requirements for Family Day Care Home Providers in Child and Adult Care Food
Program, February 24, 2009].
Enrollment Forms
At the time of enrollment in the FDCH and before any child care is provided, a record (often
called an enrollment form) for each child must be created, signed by the parent or guardian, and
retained by the provider. Only the parent or guardian may sign the enrollment form; it may not
be signed by you, the sponsor, or the provider. Enrollment forms verify that providers serve
meals to children enrolled for care and prevent providers from claiming meals for children who
do not exist or are not enrolled in the day care home [7 CFR §226.18(e)].
Children do not enroll in CACFP, but must be enrolled in the FDCH. Therefore, there is no
requirement that providers use a “CACFP enrollment form.” The sponsor may provide its own
forms. However, the form must be signed annually by a parent or guardian of the child and must
include the following information:
•
the child’s name and date of birth;
•
the hours of the day and days of the week that child care is to be provided; and
•
the meals that will be served to the child.
Other useful information that can be collected on the enrollment form, but is not required,
includes:
•
the child’s address; and
•
the place of employment, home telephone number, and work telephone number for each
parent or guardian, including the telephone number at which the parent or guardian may
be contacted, especially in an emergency, during hours of care.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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When parents or guardians work swing or rotating
shifts, they should note on the enrollment forms that
they work multiple shifts and that their children will be
in care for different hours on different days. Although
their schedules may be unpredictable, parents or
guardians should estimate the hours and days they
expect that their children will most often be in care.
Enrollment forms are valid for an entire 12-month
period. This means that enrollment forms that were
filled out last October are good through October 31st of
this year. If a provider has enrollment forms that are
more than a year old, you have to require that the
provider update them immediately.
PRACTICE TIP
The information on enrollment
forms is helpful during an
unannounced review, because it
shows you how many children are
normally expected to be in care at
a particular time of day. You may
also use sign in/out sheets. Some
States require parents to sign their
children in and out of the FDCH
each day. If your State allows this,
then you can use it to determine
when children are normally in care.
You can use the attendance sheets to do the five-day reconciliation until the
enrollment forms are updated for your review, but you will have to disallow the
meals served between the last day of the month in which the enrollment forms
expired and when they were renewed.
Some providers are approved to claim more than three meal types but not more than two meals
and one snack per day, per child. An example of an approved FDCH that may claim more than
three meal types is one that offers 24-hour or shift care.
Before you look at the enrollment forms, it may be helpful if you first review the attendance
record or the meal count records (samples are provided below), and then list all of the children
present during the review and their ages. Then make sure that each child listed has a current
enrollment form (completed and signed within the past year) and that the form is signed by a
parent or guardian. Make sure you know your State agency’s policy on how long a child (a new
child, for example) can attend an FDCH without having a current enrollment form on file.
If any of the children present are the provider’s own children, list them too, along with their ages,
and if they are enrolled as part of the provider’s day care. A provider's own children are all
children who live in the home and who are part of the economic unit of the provider’s family. If
any of the provider’s own children participate in CACFP, they must be enrolled in the FDCH and
have a current enrollment form on file. A provider’s own children may be claimed only when at
least one other non-residential enrolled child (a child who does not live with the provider) eats
the same meal service [7 CFR §226.18(e)].
Attendance Records
Records supporting the daily attendance of the children receiving care must be kept and should
record the time that the child is normally in care. In some States, the licensing agency requires
actual sign-in/sign-out sheets to record time.
Accurate and dated records are important because they are verification of actual
meals that were served in the home. If a provider does not have a past record of
dated menus, meal counts, and attendance records up to and including the day
of your review, you must disallow those meals.
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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SAMPLE: Provider FDCH Attendance Record
Provider Name
Number of Operating
Days/Week
Month/Year
Licensed
Capacity
Child Names:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
Total
Enrollment
Day(s)
attended
Attendance
Time
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Daily Meal Count Records
Daily meal count records must contain the number of meals served to enrolled children at each
meal type – breakfast, lunch, supper, or snack [7 CFR §226.16(4)(ii)]. Point-of-service meal
counts are records taken during the meal service. This type of count is usually done in day care
centers and not homes, because there are more children to record. Point-of-service meal
counts are not required for FDCHs, except as a corrective action, but meal counts must be
recorded by the end of each day.
SAMPLE: Provider FDCH Meal Count Record
Provider
Name
AM Snack:
Breakfast:
Enrolled
Name
Children
A*
B
A
L
Date
1
2
3
4
5
Total
A*
B
A
L
Month
/Year
Meal Service Time
Lunch:
PM Snack:
Age
Name
Number of Operating
Days/Week
Supper:
Evening Snack:
Age
Name
Age
P
S
E
A*
B
A
L
P
S
E
A*
B
A
L
P
S
E
P
S
E
A*
B
A
L
P
S
E
A*
B
A
L
P
S
E
A* = Attendance
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 13
Providers should not fill out meal count records before meals are served but
must ensure counts are recorded before the end of the day. If, during your
review, you find that meal count and/or attendance records have not been
completed for any days prior to the day of the review, you must disallow
reimbursement for those meals. If you find meal count records that have been
completed in advance, this should be included as a finding.
Some providers are approved to claim more than three meal types, but they may never claim
more than two meals and one snack per child, per day. An example of an approved FDCH that
may claim more than three meals types is one that offers 24-hour or shift care.
Menu Records
Daily menu records must be kept for all children and infants who participate in the Program. The
menus must:
•
clearly list all food components, as required by CACFP regulations, for each type of meal
to be served (breakfast, lunch, supper and snack); words like “bread, bread alternate,
meat, meat alternate, vegetable, fruit or juice” without the specific description of the
foods items to be served (such as banana slices) is not acceptable.;
•
list the food items that are to be served, including any substitutions;
•
clearly show the specific date of use, including the day, month, and year; and
•
be available for all parents and guardians to see; and
C. Provider Classification
FDCHs participating in the CACFP are classified as tier I homes either by location of the home
in an eligible area, or by the provider's income. After a home has been classified as tier I, all
CACFP meals served to enrolled children are reimbursed at tier I rates regardless of the income
of the enrolled child’s household. However, if the tier I classification is based on area eligibility,
the provider must still submit an income eligibility statement in order to receive reimbursement
for meals served to her own children.
A tier II FDCH is one that does not meet the criteria for classifying an FDCH as tier I. That is, it
is not located in an eligible area, nor is the provider's household income eligible. Tier II FDCHs
(those that do not qualify to receive the higher tier I rates) may still receive tier I rates for those
children enrolled in their care who are individually determined to be eligible for tier I
reimbursement.
FDCHs that receive both tier I and tier II reimbursement rates for meals served to enrolled
children are referred to as "mixed tier II" homes. The provider will receive tier I rates for meals
served to children who have been determined to be eligible based on household size and
income or who receive a benefit that makes them categorically eligible for CACFP. The provider
will receive tier II rates for meals served to all other children [7 CFR §226.13(d)(3)(i)(ii)(iii) and
CACFP Eligibility Guidance for Family Day Care Homes].
Parents or guardians can send income eligibility forms directly to the sponsor, or providers can
collect them and send them to the sponsor. If the provider collects the forms, parents or
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 14
guardians need to complete a written consent form. Because a lot of the information on the
forms is private, it is important that you check to make sure they were properly handled
[CACFP 17-2011, Transmission of Household Income Information by Tier II Family Day Care
Homes in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, April 7, 2011].
D. Licensing/Approval
In order to participate in the Program, FDCHs must be licensed or approved through their
Federal, State or local authorities to provide child care [7 CFR §226.18(a)].
The provider must notify the sponsor immediately if there is any change in enrollment or
licensing/approval status. On your reviews, make sure that the license/approval is current and
that participation does not exceed the maximum allowable capacity.
Unless there is information (usually from the State
agency) that it will not be renewed, if an FDCH’s
license/approval has expired and the provider is in the
process of renewing it, the meals between the
license/approval expiration date and the date of the new
license/approval will be allowed [7 CFR §226.6(d)(1)(ii)].
Licensing requirements differ from State to State. In
some States, if a provider’s own children are in care,
they will count as part of the total allowable capacity. In
other States, a provider’s own children do not count
toward the licensed capacity. You should be aware of the
policy in your State so that you can properly monitor your
homes.
PRACTICE TIP
Although it is not required,
you can record in your
notes the provider’s status,
such as “licensed,”
“alternate approval,” or
“exempt,” and the dates
that the status applies. Your
State might use other
descriptions. This will help
you ensure that the
provider’s status is current.
If a provider has more children in care than is allowed by the home’s license, the
home is over its capacity. If the provider served meals with the intent to claim all
of them for reimbursement, the difference in meals served and the authorized
capacity will be disallowed. In this situation, you will initiate the serious deficiency
process. In addition, you or your sponsor should notify your State’s licensing
authorities if you review a home that is overcapacity.
E. Health and Safety
Make sure you are familiar with the health and safety standards your providers are required to
follow. Although it is a basic responsibility of each FDCH to ensure meals are being safely
prepared, it is your responsibility to monitor whether the correct steps are taken to make sure
that foods are safe for children to eat. For example, utensils, counters, appliances, and the
eating area should be clean, providers should wash their hands before they prepare the food,
and there should be a place for trash [7 CFR §226.20(l)].
You may see a situation that, because of the provider’s behavior or the surroundings, poses a
threat to the health or safety of participating children or to the public. If you ever feel that a child
is in immediate danger, you must call the proper authorities immediately and stay at the site
until authorities have arrived. Examples of provider behavior that could be an imminent threat to
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Page 15
the health or safety of a child could include leaving children unattended or inflicting physical
punishment. Examples of surroundings that can endanger safety include child play areas with
easy access to busy streets or aggressive animals in the children’s area.
In both cases, you would document a finding. Additionally, you should immediately inform your
supervisor of the situation so that they can determine whether additional steps must be taken.
F. Five-day Reconciliation
You will have to complete a five-day reconciliation during each of the three required annual
reviews. Five-day reconciliations compare meal counts to attendance and enrollment records [7
CFR §226.16(d)(4)(ii)].
The initial step in conducting a five-day reconciliation is to determine whether the enrollment
information and attendance records are current and accurate. When conducting the five-day
reconciliation, you will usually review five operating days in a row during the current and/or last
claiming period. You can review earlier months if necessary, such as if the FDCH was closed for
vacation, or if there is a pattern you are trying to establish. If the provider claims meals for
weekends and/or holidays, these count as operating days and must be included when reviewing
five days in a row.
For FDCHs, the reconciliation is by the child. As illustrated in the example below, using one
chart to collect information on enrollment and attendance and the other to collect meal counts,
compare the number of meals served (Example Chart 2) to the number of children in
attendance (Example Chart 1) for that meal. For example: on Day 2 and Day 5 (highlighted in
Example Chart 2), the monitor can ask the provider why she/he claimed four breakfasts/snacks,
but there were only three children in attendance at those times, etc.
EXAMPLE CHART 1: Provider FDCH Attendance Record
Provider Name
Month/Year
Number of Operating
Days/Week
Licensed
Capacity
Child Names:
#1 Lewis B
#2 Sally L
#3 Leo M
#4 Sam P
#5 Betty P
#6
#7
#8
Total
Enrollment
Day(s)
attended
M-F
M-F
M-F
M-F
M-F
M-F
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
Attendance
Time
8am-5pm
8am-5pm
8am-5pm
8am-5pm
noon-6pm
noon-6pm
Day 1
1
1
1
1
Day 2
4
Day
5
1
Day 4
1
1
1
1
1
1
Day 3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
6
5
5
Page 16
EXAMPLE CHART 2: Meal Counts
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Breakfast
4
4
4
3
4
Total
19
AM Snack
4
4
4
3
4
19
Lunch
4
6
6
5
6
27
PM
Snack
0
Supper
2
2
2
2
8
Evening
Snack
0
Your goal is to determine whether the meal counts are accurate by comparing them to the daily
attendance for all meal types for the selected five-day operating period. If there are
inconsistencies reflected by the comparison of enrollment to attendance to meal counts, then
meals should be disallowed. For example, if there is no enrollment record for a child, then meals
claimed for that child should be disallowed. Or, if on day one the attendance is six, but the meal
court is ten, then four meals should be disallowed.
If there is an unusual pattern and/or significant difference between the
attendance on the day of the review and past meal counts, you will have to
determine if there is a valid reason for the difference and if any meal
disallowances are necessary. Meals must be disallowed in all situations where
the provider was overcapacity.
G. Household Contact
There are some findings that will require you to contact members of the child’s family (usually
after the review) to verify with the parent or guardian the attendance and enrollment of the child
and the specific meal service(s) that the child routinely receives while in care. This is referred to
a household contact [7 CFR §226.16(d)(5)].
Household contacts can verify that a provider’s attendance and meal records are accurate and
help explain problems in recordkeeping and other situations that might cause you to question a
claim. Examples include: fewer children that are present on the review day than are regularly
claimed, records that look like they were completed in advance and situations where a provider
is not at home when you arrive for a visit, but the provider claims the meal for reimbursement.
When you are onsite you should ensure that you have accurate household contact information
in the event you need to contact a family. States may have different procedures of when and
how household contacts should be used. You should be familiar with and follow your State
agency’s household contact procedures.
H. Training
Training is absolutely vital if the Program is to operate properly. Each sponsor must thoroughly
train its FDCH providers on all Program duties and responsibilities before the CACFP becomes
operational. This training stresses food service procedures and recordkeeping requirements.
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Page 17
Only those providers who understand Program rules and requirements will be able to operate
the CACFP effectively [7 CFR §226.16(d)(2)].
Additionally, sponsors must provide training on the CACFP at least once a year for all FDCH
providers to review current Program requirements. Specific training requirements, including the
content of the provider training and the number of required training hours vary from by State [7
CFR §226.16(d)(3)].
Note on your review paperwork the date of the provider’s last training so neither of you lose
track of the due date for the next training. Use the reviews as a way to identify the provider’s
needs for training on the Program. Make sure they understand all of the requirements, tell them
about any updates and changes in the Program, and ask if they are interested in a particular
training or if they would like additional materials either for themselves or for the parents.
I.
Questions and Answers
1. If a family has more than one child, may a provider use a combined sign in/out sheet?
No. Daily attendance records must be kept by child not by family.
2. When doing a five-day reconciliation, are meal counts reconciled with enrollment
forms, attendance data, or both?
In all five-day reconciliations, meal counts must be compared to both enrollment and
attendance records.
3. Why do providers have to keep copies of records if sponsors already have them?
The CACFP regulations require that each day care home keep records of each child’s
enrollment and daily records of the number of children in attendance and the number of
meals, by type, served to enrolled children. While sponsors may keep duplicate records,
maintaining records on site at the FDCH ensures that records are available for review when
a monitor or auditor arrives at the home and helps the provider make sure that
reimbursements from the provider are accurate.
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Part 4: Monitoring the Meal Service
FDCH providers must keep daily records of menus, meal counts, and attendance to support
meals claimed for reimbursement. A description of each of these records is discussed below.
A. Meal Pattern
The meal pattern requirement is a listing of food components that are required to be served to
the children participating in CACFP. Only meals that meet meal pattern requirements and are
served to enrolled children may be claimed for reimbursement [7 CFR §226.20].
As a monitor, you will check meals at homes to make sure that the meal pattern requirements
are being met. These requirements assure well-balanced, nutritious meals that supply the kinds
and amounts of foods that children require to meet their nutritional, developmental, and energy
needs. You must make sure that meals served at
your assigned FDCHs meet the meal pattern
PRACTICE TIP
requirements that are included in this handbook.
There are no “grace periods”
in CACFP. FDCHs claiming
There are four food components: milk,
CACFP reimbursement must
fruits/vegetables, grains/bread and meat/meat
comply with all Program
alternate. Compare the menus of the meals to be
requirements, including meal
served with the meal pattern requirements and learn
pattern requirements, as soon as
to recognize meal deficiencies. When you conduct a
they start participating in the
review during a meal service, make sure the provider
Program. This means that there is
is serving meals that are age appropriate (for
no “grace period” for providers that
example, foods that are not too spicy or hard to
are not meeting meal pattern or
chew/swallow for young children), is providing all of
other requirements. You must
the required components, and the serving sizes are
disallow all non-reimbursable
appropriate.
meals, even when served by new
providers.
Some providers will use cycle menus, which are
menus that are repeated on a recurring basis, such as every four weeks. Providers are allowed
to use cycle menus but you should make sure that the same foods are not served over and over
within a cycle.
Remember that each meal must contain all the components required by the CACFP meal
patterns (see chart below), and they must be served at the same time. The served quantity of
each component also must meet the minimum portion size.
If meals are incomplete or if portions are too small, children are not getting a
nutritious meal. If you determine that meals do not meet Program requirements,
those meals must be disallowed.
When observing the meal service, note the number of meals prepared, the number of complete
meals served and the number of non-reimbursable meals served, if any. FDCHs are allowed to
complete their meal counts at the end of the day, but if a home chooses to record meal counts
at the point of service or is required to do so as a corrective action, note whether or not they are
being counted accurately.
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Child Meal and Snack Requirements
Please Note: For snacks, 2 of the 4 components must be provided for a meal to qualify as reimbursable.
Food Components
Ages 1 – 2
Ages 3 – 5
Ages 6 – 12
½ cup
¾ cup
1 cup
¼ cup
combined
½ cup
combined
¾ cup
combined
½ slice
½ slice
1 slice
½ serving
½ serving
1 serving
¼ cup
¼ cup
½ cup
¼ cup
¼ cup
½ cup
1 ounce
1½ ounces
2 ounces
1 ounce
1½ ounces
2 ounces
1 ounce
1½ ounces
2 ounces
½ egg
¾ egg
1 egg
¼ cup
⅜ cup
½ cup
2 Tbsp.
3 Tbsp.
4 Tbsp.
½ ounce
¾ ounce
1 ounce
4 ounces or
½ cup
6 ounces or
¾ cup
8 ounces or 1
cup
1. Milk
fluid milk (1% or skim)
2. Fruits/Vegetables
two or more kinds of vegetables or fruit or full-strength
juice or combination
3. Bread/Bread Alternates
bread, or
cornbread, biscuit, roll, muffin, or
cooked pasta or noodle products, or
cooked cereal grains or an equivalent quantity of any
combination of bread or bread alternates
4. Meat/Meat Alternates
lean meat, poultry, or fish, or
alternate protein product, or
cheese, or
egg (large), or
cooked dry beans or peas, or
peanut butter, soybutter, or other nut or seed butter, or
peanuts, soynuts, or tree nuts or seeds, or
yogurt or an equivalent quantity of any combination of
meat or meat alternates
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Page 20
Infant requirements (0-11 months)
Infants who are enrolled for child care must have access to CACFP meals. Meals served to
infants from birth up to seven months that contain only bottled breast milk provided by the
parent or iron-fortified formula provided by the parent or caregiver, may be claimed for
reimbursement if they are served by the provider. To receive reimbursement, the caregiver must
always offer a complete developmentally appropriate meal [7 CFR §226.20(b)(5)].
Cow’s milk must not be served to infants who are less than one year old. Solid food can slowly
be added to an infant’s diet starting at four months. If, at four months, an infant is
developmentally ready for one or more solid food items and the parent or guardian requests that
the infant be served solid foods, the provider is responsible for purchasing, preparing, and
serving them to the infant.
Providers must serve infants ages 8 through 11 months breast milk or formula and solid foods.
All infant meals must be served by the provider to qualify as a reimbursable meal.
Infant formula is reimbursable under the CACFP if it is:
•
not an exempt formula;
•
iron-fortified (the statement “Infant formula with
iron” or a similar statement must be on the
label); and
•
marketed in the United States and thus
regulated by the FDA.
PRACTICE TIP
An exempt formula is an infant
formula labeled for use by infants
who have inborn problems with
metabolism, a low birth weight, or
other unusual medical or dietary
needs. Exempt infant formulas
require a medical statement in
order to be served and
reimbursable under the CACFP.
If an infant requires a specific formula for medical reasons
or personal preference, the parent/guardian can decline
the infant formula provided by the FDCH and provide the appropriate formula. If the formula is
an exempt infant formula (see Practice Tip), a medical statement must be submitted to the
provider in order for the formula to be reimbursable [7 CFR §226.20(h)].
A meal served to an infant less than 12 months of age that contains some amount of breast milk
and some amount of formula is reimbursable as long as the total number of ounces offered to
the infant meets, or exceeds, the minimum amount for the milk component as specified in the
CACFP infant meal pattern.
There is no reimbursement if a mother comes to a provider’s home to breastfeed her child,
since the provider did not feed the infant. However, a day care provider who nurses her own
infant may claim reimbursement for the meal as long as she is otherwise eligible to claim
reimbursement for meals and snacks served to her own child.
For a period of one month, when a child is 12 to 13 months and is weaning from infant formula
to fluid milk, meals that contain infant formula may be reimbursable [Issues Related to Feeding
Infants in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), April 20, 2000]. Infants have unique
nutritional and developmental needs so the CACFP has a separate meal pattern for infants.
Because of these differences, the State agency may require separate menus to be kept for
infants and older children. If your State has this requirement, you should note them separately
on your review forms as well.
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Child and Adult Care Food Program Meal Pattern for Infants (0-11 months)
Breakfast
Infants
Birth through 3
months
Infants
4 months
through 7
months
Lunch or Supper
Snack
4 to 6 fluid ounces (fl oz)
breast milk1,2 or formula3
4 to 6 fl oz breast
milk1,2 or formula3
4 to 6 fl oz breast milk1,2
or formula3
4 to 8 fl oz breast milk1,2 or
formula3
4 to 8 fl oz breast
milk1,2 or formula3
4 to 6 fl oz breast milk1,2
or formula3
0 to 3 tablespoons (Tbsp)
infant cereal3,4
0 to 3 Tbsp infant
cereal3,4
0 to 3 Tbsp fruit and/or
vegetable4
Infants
8 months
through 11
months
2 to 4 fl oz breast milk1,2
or formula3 or fruit juice5
6 to 8 fluid ounces (fl oz)
breast milk1,2 or formula3
6 to 8 fl oz breast
milk1,2 or formula3
2 to 4 tablespoons (Tbsp)
infant cereal3,4
2 to 4 Tbsp infant
0 to 1/2 slice bread4,6 or
3
cereal ; and/or 1 to 4
0 to 2 crackers4,6
Tbsp meat, fish,
poultry, egg yolk,
cooked dry beans or
peas; or 1/2 to 2 oz
cheese; or 1 to 4 oz
cottage cheese,
cheese food, or cheese
spread; and
1 to 4 Tbsp fruit and/or
vegetable
1 to 4 Tbsp fruit and/or
vegetable
1
It is recommended that breast milk be served in place of formula from birth through 11 months.
For some breastfed infants who regularly consume less than the minimum of breast milk per
feeding, a serving of less than the minimum amount of breast milk may be offered, with
additional breast milk offered if the infant is still hungry.
3
Infant formula and dry infant cereal shall be iron-fortified.
4
A serving of this component shall be optional.
5
Fruit juice shall be full-strength.
6
Bread and bread alternates shall be made from whole-grain or enriched meal or flour.
2
B. Service Styles
The two meal service styles that can be used in CACFP are pre-portioned and family style. Preportioned means that the minimal requirement (or more) of food for each required component is
prepared by an adult and given to each child on a plate or tray.
Family style meal service means that the food is placed on each table for each child to help
him/herself. Children may then select the foods they want and the amount of each food they
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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want. During your review, you must ensure that minimum portions (or more) of each required
component for all children are available for the children at the table. During the meal, it is the
responsibility of the provider to encourage each child to accept the full required portion for each
food component of the meal pattern. For example, if a child does not want a food component, or
does not want the full required portion of a meal component, the provider should offer the food
component to the child again. If minimum portions are not available to each child, the meals
would be disallowed [7 CFR §226.20(p) and FNS Instruction 783-9, Rev. 2].
If minimum portions are not available to each child during a family style meal
service, the meals must be disallowed.
C. Meal Limitations
A maximum of two meals and one snack or two snacks and one meal may be reimbursed per
child, per day. Three full meals (breakfast, lunch, and supper) may not be claimed for
reimbursement for the same child on a given day [7 CFR §226.18(c)].
Your State will approve the types of meals that a sponsor may reimburse. Make sure that you
know the meal service types and times that are approved by your State agency. The sponsor
then approves the number and types of meals the provider will serve.
D. Substitutions
Providers may make food substitutions when one allowable food item from the planned menu is
replaced by another food from the same food component category. For example, cottage
cheese may replace hamburger or peaches replace citrus sections. These substitutions are
permitted to meet a child's food preferences, food allergies, or other health concerns, or when a
menu item is not available. Substitutions must be documented on menus when the provider
decides to make the substitution [7 CFR §226.20(h)].
Providers are required to make substitutions to the meal patterns for children whose disability
restricts their diet; they may make substitutions for other participants who are not disabled but
are unable to eat regular meals because of medical or other special dietary needs. Only a
licensed physician, or recognized medical authority, can determine whether or not a
participant has a disability that restricts a child’s diet. A licensed medical professional is
someone who is recognized by the State licensing board where the provider lives and has the
authority to issue medical orders.
A medical statement is required for all substitutions, except milk, and has to describe:
•
the child’s disability,
•
how the disability limits the child’s diet,
•
the food(s) the child may not have, and;
•
the food(s) that must be substituted.
Monitors must make sure providers understand the difference between food intolerance and a
medical disability. Providers may make substitutions (except for milk) because of intolerance or
preference (see below for exceptions regarding milk substitutions). Providers must make
Family Day Care Monitor Handbook
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substitutions because of a disability. Food intolerance is when there is a reaction to a food, such
as a stomachache. A medical professional might recommend that the food is avoided, but does
not order that the child cannot have it. A disability is condition where a medical professional
finds that an impairment limits a life activity (such as breathing) to the extent that the food
should not be eaten at all by the child, and orders it by addressing the above points.
Parents or guardians may ask for non-dairy milk substitutions without providing a medical
statement. For example, if a parent has a child who follows a vegan diet, the parent can submit
a written request to the child’s caretaker asking that soy milk be served in lieu of cow’s milk. The
written request must identify the medical or other special dietary need that restricts the diet of
the child.
As part of your review, make sure appropriate documentation for all substitutions is on file.
If a provider is making substitutions for an enrolled child with a disability or
intolerance, make a note of that on your review paperwork. If the provider does
not have a proper medical note on file, you will have to disallow those meals that
do not meet the meal pattern requirements.
E. Milk
With the exception of snack, fluid milk must be
served at every meal. Fluid milk served to
children two years of age and older must be:
fat-free or low-fat milk, fat-free or low-fat lactose
reduced milk, fat-free or low-fat lactose free
milk, fat-free or low-fat buttermilk, or fat-free or
low-fat acidified milk.
Low-fat milk is typically identified as 1% or
1/2%. Whole milk and reduced-fat (2%) milk
may not be served to participants over two
years of age.
PRACTICE TIP
Offering technical assistance to providers
is an important part of a monitor’s job.
Providers may need to be reminded that
the meal pattern requirements for milk
have changed. Whole and reduced-fat
(2%) milks may not be served to
participants over two years of age
because they contain high amounts of
saturated fat.
Fat-free and low-fat (1/2%-1%) milk
options have the same amount of calcium
and important nutrients as whole and
reduced-fat milks, but much less fat.
Explaining these changes and the
reasons behind them, as part of the
technical assistant you provide, may help
providers remember these important meal
pattern requirements.
Some children cannot drink fluid milk due to
medical or other special dietary needs that are
not considered a disability. In these cases,
parents may request that providers serve nondairy beverages instead of fluid milk. The nondairy beverages must be nutritionally the same
as milk and meet the nutritional standards for
fortification of calcium, protein, vitamin A,
vitamin D, and other nutrients to levels found in cow’s milk. Your State agency will decide which
substitutions meet these requirements [CACFP 21-2011-REVISED, Nutrition Requirements for
Fluid Milk and Fluid Milk Substitutions in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Questions
and Answers, September 15, 2011].
Meals that do not include the required amount of milk, do not include milk at all,
or include 2 percent or whole milk for children 2-years-old or over must be
disallowed.
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F. Water
PRACTICE TIP
Throughout the day, including at meal times,
water should be made available to children to
drink upon their request, but it does not have to
be available for children to self-serve [CACFP
20-2011, Water Availability in the Child and
Adult Care Food Program, May 11, 2011].
Although drinking water must be made
available to children during meal times, it is not
part of the reimbursable meal and may not be
served instead of fluid milk. Make sure
providers do not serve young children too
much water before and during meal times
because it can reduce the amount of food and
milk consumed by the children.
Having water available at meal times is a
new requirement. Providers may need to
be reminded why it is important to have
water available at meals and between
meals. For example, drinking water can:
•
keep children hydrated and
healthy;
•
help build and maintain strong
teeth if water includes fluoride
(included in most tap water, but
not most bottled water);
•
help rinse food from their teeth,
and reduce acid in the mouth that
contributes to dental cavities; and
During your review, you should encourage
• teach healthy eating habits they
providers to serve water with snacks when no
will use for life.
other beverage is being served, and instead of
other high calorie, sweetened beverages (juice drinks, soda, sports drinks, etc.) that are served
outside of meal times. If you find that drinking water is not available to children, this would result
in a finding.
G. When Meals Are Served
In addition to making sure that meals served meet the meal pattern requirements, be aware of
any time restrictions (how long meals may last and the time that has to elapse between meals)
for the meal service established by your State [7 CFR §226.20(k)].
Infants do not have to be fed at the same time as older children. Providers should have flexibility
in their schedules to feed infants as often as necessary. Even though they should feed infants
according to the infants’ own needs, providers may not claim more than two meals and one
snack/per child/per day. For example, one meal for an infant is an 8 oz bottle. However, if the
infant drinks only half of it at one sitting and then the other half in a few hours, it still should be
counted as a single meal even though the bottle was fed at two different times.
Foods that are served during “field trips” are reimbursable if they meet meal pattern
requirements. However, providers are required to tell the sponsor in advance when planning to
be away from home with the children during the meal service period. This requirement helps
you plan your unannounced reviews in the most effective manner possible.
If a provider does not tell the sponsor/monitor that they will not be home and an
unannounced review is made during a scheduled meal time, meals claimed
during the unannounced review must be disallowed.
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H. Meals that MAY NOT be Claimed
Meals that may not be claimed for reimbursement are:
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
I.
meals served to any child who is not enrolled for care in the home:
meals served in excess of the home’s licensed or authorized capacity:
meal types not approved in the home’s agreement with the sponsoring organization;
meals served that are in excess of two meals and a snack (or one meal and two snacks)
claimed daily for each enrolled child;
meals that do not meet the meal pattern requirements;
meals claimed that are not supported by attendance, meal count, and menu records;
meals served to the provider’s own children unless they have been determined to be
income eligible; and
meals served to the provider’s own children when no other enrolled children are
participating.
Questions and Answers
1. Does the requirement to oversee “all meal services being claimed” mean that, if a
facility claims breakfast, lunch, and a PM snack, the sponsor’s three required reviews
of that facility must occur during each of the different meal services being claimed?
No. The requirement to oversee “all meal services being claimed” does not require a
sponsor to annually conduct reviews of each of the meal services being claimed at each
facility. As long as, in the total of all reviews it conducts for its sponsorship, the sponsor
provides roughly proportional oversight of all types of meal services being claimed, the
sponsor has met its responsibilities under 7 CFR §226.16(d).
2. Does the CACFP meal pattern allow for variations to accommodate dietary needs,
such as vegetarian?
Yes. CACFP recognizes differences in individual diets and provides alternatives to meat
within the child meal patterns. For example, the child’s lunch/supper requirement includes a
meat (defined as meat, poultry, or fish) or a meat alternate. Variations can be made here
because meat alternates include cheese, egg, cooked dry beans or peas, peanut or other
nut or seed butters, nuts and seeds, or yogurt.
3. Does the CACFP meal pattern allow for variations to accommodate participants who
cannot eat certain foods because of religious reasons?
Yes. In many cases substitutions to accommodate religious dietary restrictions can be made
within existing meal pattern requirements. In those cases, providers may make such
adjustments as needed. If religious dietary restrictions need additional accommodation,
sponsors may request that alternate meal patterns be allowed by submitting a letter to the
State agency or to the FNS Regional office that administers the program [7 CFR §226.20(i)].
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4. Is there a grace period for new day care homes that are not meeting meal pattern or
other requirements in the early months of participation?
No. CACFP regulations do not provide for claiming grace periods to new (or existing) homes
that fail to serve reimbursable meals. Although errors, such as serving meals with missing
components, may not rise to the level of a serious deficiency, the ineligible meals must
always be disallowed [CACFP 05-2009, Meal Disallowance Policies for Family Day Care
Homes in Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), March 31, 2009].
5. Is an infant meal reimbursable if the iron-fortified infant formula is supplied by the
parent or guardian?
Yes. Reimbursable meals for infants may contain either breast milk or iron-fortified infant
formula, or both. Infant formula may be supplied by the caregiver or by the parent. However,
the meal must be served and fed to the infant by the caregiver [CACFP 2003,
Reimbursement of Infant Meals in the Child Nutrition Programs, April 28, 2003].
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Part 5: FDCH Serious Deficiency Process
A serious deficiency is when an FDCH is non-compliant with one or more areas of CACFP (see
below). If you determine that a FDCH provider has committed one or more serious deficiencies,
you will document this and tell the sponsor. The sponsor will send written notice of the serious
deficiency(ies) and offer the provider an opportunity to take corrective action
[7 CFR §226.16(l)].
Not all serious deficiencies take the same amount of time to correct; some might take several
days to correct, while some may take only a few hours. If the serious deficiencies are not
corrected within the given time frame, an FDCH sponsor has to begin action to terminate the
agreement with the FDCH.
When the serious deficiency constitutes an imminent threat to the health or safety of children,
the sponsor must immediately suspend the provider’s participation.
The sponsor must provide a copy of the notice of serious deficiency to the State agency at the
time it is issued.
Note, that determinations of serious deficiency are not appealable.
A. Serious Deficiencies
An FDCH provider is seriously deficient if she/he:
•
submitted false information on the application;
•
submitted false claims for reimbursement;
•
participated simultaneously under more than one sponsor;
•
failed to comply with the CACFP meal pattern requirements for a significant number of
meals;
•
failed to keep required records;
•
engaged in conduct or created conditions that threatened the health or safety of a child(ren)
in care or the public health and safety;
•
was convicted (or concealed a conviction) of any activity that occurred during the past seven
years and that indicated a lack of business integrity (e.g., fraud, antitrust violations,
embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false
statements, receiving stolen property, making false claims, or obstruction of justice),
•
failed to participate in training; or
•
participated in any other circumstance related to non-performance under the agreement with
the sponsor [7 CFR §226.16(l)(1)].
B. Corrective Action
If a provider has committed one or more of the serious deficiencies listed above, the monitor
issues the provider a notice of serious deficiency(ies) and the provider is given an opportunity to
take corrective action. Some corrective action can be taken on-the-spot (correcting a filing
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error), while the monitor is present; other corrective action measures may take a longer time to
complete. A corrective action must clearly address the identified problems and outline the steps
the provider will take to fully and permanently correct the deficiency. That is, the corrective
action must address the following questions:
9 Who will be responsible for making sure the deficiency is corrected?
9 What will be done to correct the problem?
9 How often will this be done – that is frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, etc.?
9 When will this be done?
9 How will the FDCH practices be revised to address the deficiency?
You will have to conduct an unannounced visit to verify corrective action and decide if it is
adequate or not. If the sponsor determines that the provider has fully corrected the serious
deficiency within the allotted time, the sponsor must notify the provider that the serious
deficiency determination has been temporarily deferred [7 CFR §226.16(l)(3)(ii)].
Not all findings will rise to the level of a serious deficiency. It will often depend on the severity of
the finding and how often it has occurred. However, if the provider does not fully and
permanently correct the serious deficiency(ies) within the required time, the sponsor will issue a
notice proposing to terminate the provider’s agreement.
C. Suspension
The provider’s main priority is to protect the health and safety of the children in care. If the
monitor determines that there is an imminent threat to the health or safety of participants at a
day care home, or that the day care home has engaged in activities that threaten the public
health or safety, that provider will be suspended. This means that the provider will not receive
payment until any Program-appeal activity is completed.
If there is an imminent threat to the health or safety of the children in care, the monitor must
immediately notify the appropriate State or local child welfare, licensing, and health authorities
and take action that is consistent with the recommendations and requirements of those
authorities [7 CFR §226.16(l)(4)(viii)].
Additionally, if a sponsor finds out that a State or local health or licensing officials has cited a
day care home for a serious health or safety violations, the sponsor must immediately suspend
the home’s CACFP participation. The sponsor may not wait for formal action on behalf state or
local health and/or licensing officials before taking any formal action to revoke the home’s
licensure or approval.
The sponsor will notify the day care home that its participation has been suspended, that the
day care home has been determined seriously deficient, and that the sponsor proposes to
terminate the day care home’s agreement for cause. The sponsor also must provide a copy of
the notice to the State agency and follow the procedures outlined in Program regulations [7 CFR
§226.16(l)(4)].
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D. Appeals
If timely corrective action is not taken to fully and permanently correct the serious deficiency(ies)
cited, the sponsor must issue a notice proposing to terminate the FDCH’s agreement for cause.
The notice must explain the FDCH’s opportunity for an administrative review (appeal) of the
proposed termination. A copy of the sponsor’s appeal procedures must be in the notice of
proposed termination. The sponsor must provide a copy of the notice to the State agency [7
CFR §226.6(l)(2)].
The sponsor must continue to pay any claims for reimbursement for eligible meals served until
the serious deficiency(ies) is corrected or the day care home’s agreement is terminated,
including the period of any appeal.
E. Agreement Termination and Disqualification
The sponsor must immediately terminate the FDCH provider’s agreement and disqualify the
FDCH when the appeal official upholds the termination and disqualification, or when the FDCH
provider’s opportunity to request an appeal expires. At the same time the notice is issued, the
sponsor must provide a copy of the termination and disqualification letter to the State agency [7
CFR §226.16(l)(3)(iii)].
F. Questions and Answers
1. During a review, the sponsor issues a finding that is not a serious deficiency, but that
requires the home to take corrective action. Can the provider discontinue their
participation in CACFP without any action by the sponsor?
Yes, the home can terminate its agreement with the sponsor “for convenience” at any time,
provided that the sponsor has not declared the provider seriously deficient.
2. During a review, the sponsor discovers conduct or conditions that pose an imminent
threat to the health or safety of participating children or the public. Must the sponsor
wait until local licensing or health authorities revoke a license or to take any specific
action before a FDCH is suspended from participating in CACFP?
No. If an imminent threat to the health or safety of participants at an FDCH has been cited,
or if an FDCH has engaged in activities that threaten the public health or safety, the
sponsoring organization must immediately suspend the home's CACFP participation prior to
any formal action to revoke the home's licensure or approval.
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3. Some of the reasons for declaring a home seriously deficient are broad, such as
“non-compliance with the meal pattern.” Does that mean that any provider who
makes a single error in menu planning must be declared seriously deficient?
No. Monitors and sponsors should use discretion in determining whether a provider’s
problems rise to the level of serious deficiency. However, “sponsor discretion” does not
mean keeping providers in the Program at all cost. To appropriately use this discretion,
monitors and sponsors must be able to distinguish between occasional errors and systemic
errors, and between minor errors and major errors.
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Part 6: Resources
Below is a list of available resources including regulations, required notices, rates, and meal
service/planning guides.
Building for the Future Notice
This notice describes CACFP, its eligibility requirements and the types of meals that can be
served.
English version: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Publications/pdf/4Future.pdf.
Spanish version: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/Publications/pdf/Build4Future.pdf.
CACFP Required Meal Patterns
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/programbasics/meals/meal_patterns.htm
Code of Federal Regulations
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
Feeding Infants: A Guide for Use in the Child Nutrition Programs
http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/feeding_infants.html
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
The Food and Nutrition Service administers the Child and Adult Care Food Program on the
Federal level.
www.fns.usda.gov
National Food Service Management Institute
The National Food Service Management Institute (NFSMI), part of the School of Applied
Science at The University of Mississippi, offers in-person training at little or no cost and free
online courses designed to support the professional development of child nutrition program and
child care personnel at all levels of responsibility. The Institute also delivers free training
resources managers can use to train their staff.
www.nfsmi.org
Reimbursement Rates
www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/ProgramBasics/Rates/ReimbursementRates_Current.htm
State Agency Contact Information
www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Contacts/StateDirectory.htm
Team Nutrition
Team Nutrition is an initiative of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to support the Child
Nutrition Programs through training and technical assistance for foodservice, nutrition education
for children and their caregivers, and school and community support for healthy eating and
physical activity. Users can download recipes, activity sheets and other nutrition related
materials.
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Default.htm
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Part 7: Glossary
Actual Count – The reimbursement method requiring meal count records by name and
category for each meal claimed.
Children – For the purposes of family day care homes, persons 12 years of age and under,
children of migrant workers 15 years of age and under, and mentally or physically disabled
persons, as defined by the State, enrolled in an agency or a child care facility serving a majority
of persons 18 years of age and younger.
Disability – The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, including ADA Amendments
Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-325), defines an individual with a disability as a person with a physical or
mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such
an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities include, but
are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating,
communicating, etc. A major life activity also includes the operation of a major bodily function,
including, but not limited, to functions of the immune system, digestive system, bowel, bladder
neurological system, etc.
Enrollment Form – A signed document indicating that a participant is enrolled for day care and
includes the planned times of care and meal services that the participant is to receive on a
regular basis.
Enrolled Participant – A child who is enrolled for care at a day care facility.
Family Day Care Home (FDCH) – A facility that is licensed or approved to provide nonresidential child care services in a group or family home setting, or a facility that is approved to
participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) under the Alternate Approval
Procedures at 7 CFR Part 226.6 (d) (3).
Family Style Meal Service – A type of meal service that allows children to serve themselves
from common platters or bowls of food.
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) – The agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture that
regulates the CACFP.
Food Intolerance – An adverse food-induced reaction that does not involve the body's immune
system.
Food Allergy – An adverse immune system response to a food that the body mistakenly
believes is harmful.
Infant – A child under 12 months of age.
Institution – A sponsoring organization, child care center, at-risk afterschool care center,
outside-school hours care center, emergency shelter or adult day care center which enters into
an agreement with the State agency to assume final administrative and financial responsibility
for Program operations.
Meal Count – A daily count of meals served to participants by meal type.
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Menus – A dated list of food, by meal type, served to CACFP participants.
Participants – Children who are participating in the CACFP.
Provider – An individual who is licensed or approved to provide child care, and who enters into
an agreement with a sponsoring organization.
Reimbursable Meals – Meals that are served to enrolled participants at a day care facility and
that meet USDA nutritional requirements.
Reimbursement – Money paid to day care centers and FDCH providers through their sponsors
for eligible meals served.
Sponsoring Organization (Sponsor) – Public or private non-profit organizations that are
entirely responsible for the administration of the CACFP in sponsored facilities such as FDCHs.
Tier I Home – A daycare home that is operated by a provider whose household meets the
income standards for free or reduced price meals, as determined by the sponsoring
organization based on a completed free and reduced price application, and whose income is
verified by the sponsoring organization of the home in accordance with 7 CFR 226.23(h)(6); or
A day care home that is located in an area served by a school enrolling elementary students in
which at least 50 percent of the total number of children enrolled are certified eligible to receive
free or reduced price meals; or
A day care home that is located in a geographic area, as defined by FNS based on census data,
in which at least 50 percent of the children residing in the area are members of households
which meet the income standards for free or reduced price meals.
Tier II Home – A licensed or approved FDCH that does not meet the eligibility criteria for the
Tier I classification. Tier II rates of reimbursement are lower than Tier I.
Tier II mixed home – A licensed or approved FDCH in which all or some of the children in care
are certified eligible for free or reduced price meals.
USDA – United States Department of Agriculture.
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| Author | Sarah Powers - ICF |
| File Modified | 2022-03-20 |
| File Created | 2021-07-16 |