[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 7, Volume 4]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 7CFR226.18]



[Page 224-227]

 

                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE

 

    CHAPTER II--FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

 

PART 226_CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM--Table of Contents

 

                    Subpart E_Operational Provisions

 

Sec. 226.18  Day care home provisions.



    (a) Day care homes shall have current Federal, State or local 

licensing or approval to provide day care services to children. Day care 

homes which cannot obtain their license because they lack the funding to 

comply with licensing standards may request a total limit per home of 

$300 in administrative funds from a sponsoring organization to assist 

them in obtaining their license. Day care homes that, at the option of 

their sponsoring organization, receive administrative funds for 

licensing-related expenses must complete documentation requested by 

their sponsor as described in Sec. 226.16(k) prior to receiving any 

funds. The agreement must be signed by the sponsoring organization and 

the provider and must include the provider's full name, mailing address, 

and date of birth. Day care homes which are complying with applicable 

procedures to renew licensing or approval may participate in the Program 

during the renewal process, unless the State agency has information 

which indicates that renewal will be denied. If licensing or approval is 

not available, a day care home may participate in the Program if:

    (1) The right of the sponsoring organization, the State agency, the 

Department, and other State and Federal officials to make announced or 

unannounced reviews of the day care home's operations and to have access 

to its meal service and records during its normal hours of child care 

operations. For day care homes participating July 29, 2002, the 

sponsoring organization must amend the current agreement no later than 

August 29, 2002;



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    (2) It demonstrates compliance with CACFP child care standards or 

applicable State or local child care standards to the State agency.

    (b) Day care homes participating in the program shall operate under 

the auspices of a public or private nonprofit sponsoring organization. 

Sponsoring organizations shall enter into a written permanent agreement 

with each sponsored day care home which specifies the rights and 

responsibilities of both parties. Nothing in the preceding sentence 

shall be construed to limit the ability of the sponsoring organization 

to suspend or terminate the permanent agreement in accordance with Sec. 

226.16(l). This agreement shall be developed by the State agency, unless 

the State agency elects, at the request of the sponsor, to approve an 

agreement developed by the sponsor. At a minimum, the agreement shall 

embody:

    (1) The right of the sponsoring organization, the State agency, and 

the Department to visit the day care home and review its meal service 

and records during its hours of child care operations;

    (2) The responsibility of the sponsoring organization to require key 

staff, as defined by the State agency, to receive Program training prior 

to the day care home's participation in the Program, and at least 

annually thereafter, on content areas established by the State agency, 

and the responsibility of the day care home to participate in that 

training;

    (3) The responsibility of the day care home to prepare and serve 

meals which meet the meal patterns specified in Sec. 226.20;

    (4) The responsibility of the day care home to maintain records of 

menus, and of the number of meals, by type, served to enrolled children;

    (5) The responsibility of the day care home to promptly inform the 

sponsoring organization about any change in the number of children 

enrolled for care or in its licensing or approval status;

    (6) The meal types approved for reimbursement to the day care home 

by the State agency;

    (7) The right of the day care home to receive in a timely manner the 

full food service rate for each meal served to enrolled children for 

which the sponsoring organization has received payment from the State 

agency. However, if, with the home provider's consent, the sponsoring 

organization will incur costs for the provision of program foodstuffs or 

meals in behalf of the home, and subtract such costs from Program 

payments to the home, the particulars of this arrangement shall be 

specified in the agreement. The sponsoring organization must not 

withhold Program payments to any family day care home for any other 

reason, except that the sponsoring organization may withhold from the 

provider any amounts that the sponsoring organization has reason to 

believe are invalid, due to the provider having submitted a false or 

erroneous meal count;

    (8) The right of the sponsoring organization or the day care home to 

terminate the agreement for cause or, subject to stipulations by the 

State agency, convenience;

    (9) A prohibition of any sponsoring organization fee to the day care 

home for its Program administrative services;

    (10) If the State agency has approved a time limit for submission of 

meal records by day care homes, that time limit shall be stated in the 

agreement;

    (11) The responsibility of the sponsoring organization to inform 

tier II day care homes of all of their options for receiving 

reimbursement for meals served to enrolled children. These options 

include: electing to have the sponsoring organization attempt to 

identify all income-eligible children enrolled in the day care home, 

through collection of free and reduced price applications and/or 

possession by the sponsoring organization or day care home of other 

proof of a child or household's participation in a categorically 

eligible program, and receiving tier I rates of reimbursement for the 

meals served to identified income-eligible children; electing to have 

the sponsoring organization identify only those children for whom the 

sponsoring organization or day care home possess documentation of the 

child or household's participation in a categorically eligible program, 

under the expanded categorical eligibility provision contained in



[[Page 226]]



Sec. 226.23(e)(1), and receiving tier I rates of reimbursement for the 

meals served to these children; or receiving tier II rates of 

reimbursement for all meals served to enrolled children;

    (12) The responsibility of the sponsoring organization, upon the 

request of a tier II day care home, to collect applications and 

determine the eligibility of enrolled children for free or reduced price 

meals;

    (13) The State agency's policy to restrict transfers of day care 

homes between sponsoring organizations;

    (14) The responsibility of the day care home to notify their 

sponsoring organization in advance whenever they are planning to be out 

of their home during the meal service period. The agreement must also 

state that, if this procedure is not followed and an unannounced review 

is conducted when the children are not present in the day care home, 

claims for meals that would have been served during the unannounced 

review will be disallowed;

    (15) The day care home's opportunity to request an administrative 

review if a sponsoring organization issues a notice of proposed 

termination of the day care home's Program agreement, or if a sponsoring 

organization suspends participation due to health and safety concerns, 

in accordance with Sec. 226.6(1)(2); and

    (16) If so instructed by its sponsoring organization, the day care 

home's responsibility to distribute to parents a copy of the sponsoring 

organization's notice to parents.

    (c) Each day care home shall serve one or more of the following meal 

types:

    (1) Breakfast,

    (2) Lunch,

    (3) Supper and

    (4) Supplemental food.



Reimbursement shall not be claimed for more than two meals and one 

supplement provided daily to each child.

    (d) Each day care home participating in the program shall serve the 

meal types specified in its approved application in accordance with the 

meal pattern requirements specified in Sec. 226.20. Menu records shall 

be maintained to document compliance with these requirements. Meals 

shall be served at no separate charge to enrolled children;

    (e) Each day care home must maintain on file documentation of each 

child's enrollment and must maintain daily records of the number of 

children in attendance and the number of meals, by type, served to 

enrolled children. Such documentation of enrollment must be updated 

annually, signed by a parent or legal guardian, and include information 

on each child's normal days and hours of care and the meals normally 

received while in care. Each tier II day care home in which the provider 

elects to have the sponsoring organization identify enrolled children 

who are eligible for free or reduced price meals, and in which the 

sponsoring organization employs a meal counting and claiming system in 

accordance with Sec. 226.13(d)(3)(i), shall maintain and submit each 

month to the sponsoring organization daily records of the number and 

types of meals served to each enrolled child by name. Payment may be 

made for meals served to the provider's own children only when (1) such 

children are enrolled and participating in the child care program during 

the time of the meal service, (2) enrolled nonresident children are 

present and participating in the child care program and (3) providers' 

children are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals. 

Reimbursement may not be claimed for meals served to children who are 

not enrolled, or for meals served at any one time to children in excess 

of the home's authorized capacity or for meals served to providers' 

children who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

    (f) The State agency may not require a day care home or sponsoring 

organization to maintain documentation of home operating costs.

    (g) Each day care home shall comply with the recordkeeping 

requirements established in Sec. 226.10(d) and in this section. Failure 

to maintain such records



[[Page 227]]



shall be grounds for the denial of reimbursement.



[47 FR 36527, Aug. 20, 1982, as amended by Amdt. 5, 49 FR 18989, May 4, 

1984; 50 FR 8580, Mar. 4, 1985; 52 FR 36907, Oct. 2, 1987; Amdt. 22, 55 

FR 1378, Jan. 14, 1990; 61 FR 25554, May 22, 1996; 62 FR 903, Jan. 7, 

1997; 63 FR 9105, Feb. 24, 1998; 63 FR 9729, Feb. 26, 1998; 64 FR 72261, 

Dec. 27, 1999; 67 FR 43493, June 27, 2002; 69 FR 53546, Sept. 1, 2004; 

70 FR 34633, June 15, 2005]