Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program

Program Overview

The Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program is administered by the Maryland Department of Education under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program is created to provide healthy and nutritious food to children and adults who are living in daycare centers and daycare homes. 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 Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program is to make daycare centers more accessible by making it affordable to families in need. The families living on a fixed budget cannot afford daycare food and other expenses.  The CACFP program helps such families to afford daycare centers without compromising on the health of their children. This leads them to live a healthy lifestyle by incorporating healthy and nutritious food in their diet. Those healthy food items are given daily to the applicants which helps improve the daycare center conditions.

The Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program is different from other food programs as it is for daycare centers and not individuals hence, you cannot apply for the program on an individual basis. The individual’s interest in the Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program has to find a daycare center in their locality that participates in the CACAFP program to avail of the program’s benefits. 

It is important to check if the daycare center is licensed by the Department of Health Environment or any other government-backed organization to participate in the Maryland 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 Maryland.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes the type of meals that are provided by the CACFP in the daycare centers. The meal patterns are,

Program Benefits

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establishes the type of meals that are provided by the CACFP in the daycare centers. The meal patterns are,

In 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 is 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

There are certain factors that determine your eligibility for the Maryland 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 than they are eligible for the CACFP program
• If the candidate is 15 years of age or younger and a migrant than they can apply for the CACFP program
• Candidates who are within 18 years of age, living in an emergency shelter homes or are part of the Area Eligible Snack Program are eligible for the CACFP program in Maryland
• 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 homes can apply for the CACFP program in the state of Maryland 

 How to Apply 

 The applicant can use different methods to apply for the Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program. It makes the whole process very flexible and applicants can choose the method more easy for them. 

• To apply via phone call please use the toll-free number 410-767-0199 to contact the  Department of Education office to request an application form for the program. The application will be emailed to you that you can then return once you fill out the form to get the program’s benefits.
• To apply through fax, the applicant will be required to fax the application form along with all the attested copied of the required documents to the Department of Education office in your locality.
• If the applicant is interested in submitting their application in person, they can visit the nearby Maryland Department of Education office in their locality. The representative of the Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program will guide you about 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 to you shortly afterward. It is advisable to apply before the due date to be able to get the benefits of the Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program.

 For Further Information

 For more information related to the Maryland Child and Adult Care Food Program please visit the official Maryland State Department of Education website. It provides complete and accurate information about the program. The above-mentioned website 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 many more.

Also Discover: The Minnesota Food Assistance Program (MFAP)