Oklahoma Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

The Oklahoma Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) of the USDA, is part of the nutrition program that offers help and support to child and adult care facilities and family or social day care homes. The main aim of this program is to provide healthful meals that correspond to the well-being, sustainable development, and growth of young children. The health and wellness of older adults and chronically impaired disabled persons are also facilitated by this program.

According to CACFP, Three meal programs (two meals and one snack or two snacks and one meal) a day per child can be reimbursed to centers and households. At regularly scheduled times per day, meals must be served. If there are modifications to the meal service schedule(s), you must contact the state agency; your sponsor must be notified to align with CACFP’s requirements, in the case of FDCHs.

The rates of reimbursement are annually reported and are based on the Consumer Price Index. Based on the family size and profits of the family of the participant, organizations are billed. Administrative costs are also charged to sponsoring agencies of family day care homes.

Each meal has a component and quantity requirement. Quantities vary according to the age of the participants being served. Specific component and quantity information is contained in the CACFP Training Manual and the Food Buying Guide.

To be qualified to participate in the Oklahoma Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), all participants must meet the criteria that have been officially declared by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The following people are considered to be eligible for the program:

Public and nonprofit organizations that provide licensed, and non-residential, daycare services to individuals are eligible to apply for the program.

Children of twelve years old and younger are eligible for the program and the children whose parents are migrant workers, must be fifteen (15) years of age to be qualified. Mentally or physically disabled people are eligible for participation in the program, regardless of their age. The only requirement for such participants is that they must be enrolled in a care center where the individuals receiving care are mostly eighteen years of age or younger. Adults, who are physically impaired or are of sixty years of age or older, are qualified for participation in this program if they are enrolled in an adult day care center.

For participating in the program, follow the steps given below:

Go to the website https://cnp.sde.ok.gov/CACFP/WelcomeSNPM.aspx and click on ‘Apply to participate’ for online participation. Once the On-Line Application shows, the applicants are required to answer questions 1 through 3. After completing these questions, click on the button that says ‘Next’ to be directed to the ‘Initial Person’ page. On the ‘Initial Person’ page, you have to enter the data which has been requested. After entering your data, click on the button that says ‘Submit Request for Access to the CNP System’.

For more information, visit the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s official website. Participants can click on the ‘CACFP Software Instructions for new Participants’ for getting more information about the program.