Mary Beth Salomone Testa

The annual CACFP reimbursement rate increase is insufficient to meet the needs of home-based child care providers. With only a 1% increase for home-based providers, the rising costs of groceries continue to strain their budgets. This modest adjustment fails to cover the expenses of providing nutritious meals to children. Advocacy for more robust and sustained investment in the CACFP is essential to ensure that providers can offer high-quality care and nutrition.

The serious deficiency process is a tool used to help regulate CACFP but often subjects home-based child care providers unfairly to swift and harsh penalties.

In October child care providers will hit the hard reality of rising food costs and lower reimbursements. The new CACFP bill includes key provisions that advocates have long requested, and could be the difference between kids being hungry and healthy.

A look back at one year into the American Rescue Plan child care investment and what to look forward to.

Home Grown partnered with the Urban Institute and Child Trends to look at the CACFP and present findings and recommendations.