Program Overview
The Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is administered by the Alabama Department of Education Child Nutrition Programs, under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program is created to provide healthy and nutritious food to children and adults in daycare centers, family daycare homes, and outside-school-hour centers. The program works by providing meals at subsidized prices to these daycare centers to help them improve the quality of food.
Program Objectives
The main goal of the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program is to make meals more accessible by making them affordable to families in need. The families living on a fixed budget cannot afford regular food and other expenses. The CACFP program helps such families to afford nutritious meals without compromising the health of their children. This leads them to live a healthy lifestyle by incorporating healthy and nutritious food into their diet. Those healthy food items are given daily to the applicants which helps improve the daycare center conditions.
The Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program managing agencies follow the nutrition standards, rules, and policies set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The individual interest in the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program have to find a child daycare center or adult daycare center in their locality that participates in the CACFP program to avail the program’s benefits.
It is important to check if the daycare center is participating in the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program. You can go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to check if the daycare centers are licensed to participate in the CACFP in the state of Alabama. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes the type of meals that are provided by the CACFP in the daycare centers.
Program Benefits
The meal patterns of the program are: For breakfast, the participants are provided with a serving of milk along with a fruit or vegetable or food that is rich in grains. For lunch or dinner, the meal includes meat or its alternative for people who are vegan or cannot have meat for certain medical reasons. Along with that, the meal contains milk, grain, or bread, and there is an option between fruits and vegetables. For snacks, there is an option to choose from fruits, vegetables, grain, or meat.
Eligibility Requirements
Certain factors determine your eligibility for the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program and if you fulfill those requirements you can qualify for the program’s benefits. Those include,
- If the candidate is 12 years of age or younger then they are eligible for the CACFP program
- If the candidate is 15 years of age or younger and a migrant then they can apply for the CACFP program
- Candidates who are within 18 years of age, and living in an emergency shelter home are eligible for the CACFP program in Alabama
- Children with impaired functioning living in the daycare centers are eligible for the CACFP program.
- Adults who are functionally impaired or are either 60 years of age or older living in an adult day care center can apply for the CACFP program in the state of Alabama
How to Apply
The applicant can use different methods to apply for the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program. It makes the whole process very flexible and applicants can choose the method more easy for them.
- You can get access to useful resources from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) at this link.
- If the applicant is interested in submitting their application in person, they can visit the nearby Alabama Department of Education office in their locality. The representative of the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program will guide you through the program details, eligibility criteria, and program benefits.
The application process takes very little time and once you finish the form you can wait for your confirmation number which will be provided shortly afterward. It is advisable to apply before the due date to be able to get the benefits of the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program.
For Further Information
For more information about the Alabama Child and Adult Care Food Program please visit the Alabama State Department of Education page. It provides complete and accurate information about the program. The above-mentioned web page will help you learn more about the program and its requirements related to the application process and eligibility criteria, the program’s working procedure, the types of meals served, and more.
You may also call the National Hunger Hotline. Hotline staff can help you find food near where you live: 1-866-348-6479
