At a time when children and providers are going hungry and federal food aid is shrinking, food costs pose a significant risk to provider sustainability and the wellbeing of children that they serve. The new brief underscores how the current increases in CACFP reimbursement fail to grapple with the broader, structural challenges facing HBCC providers: rising food costs, inadequate reimbursement rates, burdened policy systems, and shifting eligibility criteria. All of which leave puts provider sustainability at risk and impacts child wellbeing.
Brief: Revised CACFP Rates Don’t Make a Dent
Grandparents are unsung heroes of home-based child care. Millions of grandparents are stepping up all across the U.S. to provide primary care for their grandchildren. Stories like Tracy Owen, Natalie Whitesides, and Maria Buehler show how grandparents balance work, retirement, or other responsibilities while providing loving care.
Ahead of FFN Appreciation Week 2025, a member of the Home Grown staff shares her personal experience with family, friend and neighbor providers and why she's passionate about supporting them.