Family Child Care Providers in the CACFP - Operational Effects of Reimbursement Tiering: A Report to Congress on the Family Child Care Homes Legislative Changes Study

by Natasha Zotov, Shao-hsun Keng, and William Hamilton

Family child care providers who participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) receive reimbursement for qualifying meals served to children in their care. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 mandated a two-tiered reimbursement structure designed to target benefits more narrowly to low-income children and called for a study of its effects on program participants and on meals offered to children. Participating providers who receive the lower Tier 2 reimbursements tend to charge higher hourly fees and spend somewhat less on food, according to analyses controlling for provider's location and operating characteristics. The pattern of meals and snacks that providers offered was not altered by tiering, however.

Keywords: meal reimbursement tiering, Child and Adult Care Food Program, CACFP, child care, childcare, family child care providers, child nutrition programs, welfare, reform, Food and Nutrition Service, FNS

In this publication...

• Entire Report
• Abstract, Contents, Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Characteristics of CACFP Family Child Care Homes
• Meals and Snacks Served in Family Day Care Homes
• Economics of the Family Day Care Operations
• Providers? Experiences in the CACFP
• CACFP 'Dropout' Providers
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C