All the most current resources you need to successfully operate the Child and Adult Care Food Program are available here. TDA keeps this page updated with any new policy updates and news, including the following:
- Handbook release notices with update summaries
- Form release notices
- Brand new policy updates that haven’t yet been updated within the handbooks
- FAQs and other resources, as required
Please bookmark this page and check back periodically.
March 6, 2026 – RELEASE: Consolidated CACFP Handbook
TDA has published the brand new CACFP handbook, a single resource for all CACFP independent centers and sponsors, regardless of the CACFP sub-program they operate. The handbook has been significantly rewritten, reformatted, and updated with new policy. Each section contains a Log of Section updates that contains all substantive updates since the last update. Updates are also highlighted in yellow within each section.
Note that TDA will immediately begin preparing for the next release of the handbook, which will include additional reformatting, clarification, policy updates introduced in Program Year 2027, and any other changes based on sponsor/center feedback.
In April, TDA will post an accompanying pre-recorded presentation on SquareMeals to walk through the significant changes included in this release. Additionally, at TDA’s MegaCon in April, TDA’ will deliver a presentation focusing on the new program integrity initiatives documented in the new handbook.
Keep checking the Policy/Handbook page for additional news and updates.
March 6, 2026 – RELEASE: Multiple CACFP Forms and Templates
To coincide with the release of the new CACFP Handbook, TDA has updated and created forms and templates to better align with the clarified guidance contained in the handbook. New/updated forms are as follows:
- Letters to Household (in English and Spanish)
- Day Care Home Letter to Household – Tier I or Provider’s Own Children
- Day Care Home Letter to Household – Tier II Enrolled Participants
- Adult Day Care Center Letters to Households (NEW! – Separate templates for pricing and non-pricing programs)
- Child Care Center Letters to Households (NEW! – Separate templates for pricing and non-pricing programs)
- Meal Benefit Income Eligibility Form for Child Care Sites/Providers (in English and Spanish)
- H1660 - List of Federal/State Funded Assistance Programs with Qualifying Income Requirements (in English and Spanish (NEW!))
- Onsite Review Forms
- H1602 Adult Day Care Center Site Review Form
- H1606 Child Care Center Site Review Form
- H1606-AT At-Risk Site Review Form
- H1607 Day Care Home Provider Review Form
- Site/Provider Pre-Approval Visit Forms
- H1602-P Adult Day Care Center Pre-Approval Visit Form
- H1606-P Child Care Center Pre-Approval Visit Form
- H1606-P-AT At-Risk Pre-Approval Visit Form
- H1607-P Day Care Home Provider Pre-Approval Visit Form
- H4503 Sponsoring Organization Disbursement Record (for Sponsors of Centers/Sites) and accompanying Instructions document
- H1534 Documentation of Claimed Costs – Meals Served (for Sponsors of Day Care Home Providers
TDA will be posting a pre-recorded webinar in April to SquareMeals that discusses how the handbook updates impacted the above forms. All forms are located on the CACFP Administration/Forms page: https://squaremeals.org/Programs/Child-and-Adult-Care-Food-Program/Administration-Forms
March 6, 2026 – RELEASE: Updated Micro-purchase Logs for Child Nutrition and Household Programs
TDA has updated the micro-purchase logs for the Child Nutrition and Household Programs to reflect the new micro-purchase threshold of $15,000. The updated micro-purchase log used by the Child Nutrition Programs also includes additional clarity around its use in CACFP. The forms can be located on each respective program’s Administration/Forms page.
March 5. 2026 - WAIVER DENIAL - Two additional CACFP onsite monitoring waiver requests
On November 20, 2025, TDA submitted two CACFP waiver requests to USDA. The first would allow sponsors of child care centers and adult day care centers to conduct one offsite monitoring review per year. the second request would have allowed any sponsor already approved to conduct one offsite monitoring review to conduct a second offsite monitoring review for sites over 2 hours or 100 miles away from the sponsor's nearest field office. USDA denied those waiver requests on March 3, 2026, citing program integrity concerns around waiver implementation.
February 20, 2026 - New guidance and resources for incorporating local beef into child nutrition programs
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service has issued the new memo SP03-2026, CACFP02-2026, SFSP02-2026, Incorporating Local Beef into Child Nutrition Program Meals, which provides helpful resources and strategies for Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operators and ranchers to incorporate local beef into meals. resource topics cover procurement, funding resources, food safety, crediting, and technical assistance contacts from the farm to school program.
The full memo can be found here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/local-beef
February 15, 2026 - USDA issues new guidance on Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030
On January 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 (guidelines). USDA strongly encourages Child Nutrition Program operators to familiarize themselves with the key recommendations and consider how these guidelines can be incorporated into program meals and snacks to promote healthy outcomes and healthy families.
This release kicks off a multi-year effort to update USDA's Child Nutrition Programs based on this guidance, including through rulemaking and education. USDA is actively developing a proposed rule to update Child Nutrition Program nutrition standards and meal requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations to align with the goals of the updated guidelines. Until a final rule implementing changes to meal requirements is complete, all operators should continue meeting current requirements while working towards providing the healthiest food options to program participants.
Please refer to USDA memo SP02-2026, CACFP 01-2026, SFSP01-2026, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 – Eat Real Food (https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/dga-realfood).
February 3, 2026 - RELEASE: 2026 Ramadan non-congregate feeding waiver request form
The 2026 Ramadan non-congregate feeding waiver request form has been posted to TX-UNPS Download Forms (SNP-000 SNP Waiver Portal for school districts, CACFP-113 for CACFP CEs). This waiver allows eligible operators in good standing to offer meals that participants in attendance and observing Ramadan can take off-site and consume after fasting. Note that per USDA guidance, this waiver is only available to Contracting Entities operating NSLP, SBP, CACFP At-risk sites, CACFP emergency shelters, CACFP outside-school-hours care centers, and CACFP adult day care centers.
Requesting CEs must submit this form and be approved prior to serving any non-congregate meals. In using this waiver, CEs agree to the following:
- Multi-day meal bundling and parent pick-up are not allowed under this waiver.
- Non-congregate meals must only be distributed to participants who have indicated verbally or in writing that they are fasting between February 17 and March 19, 2026.
- If a participant chooses to consume a meal or snack during the day, schools or CACFP operators may not deny a meal or snack because the participant is thought to be fasting.
February 3, 2026 - RELEASE: School Data for Area Eligibility Report
On an annual basis, TDA must publish a list of schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in which at least one-half of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The School Data for Area Eligibility 2025-2026 Report, based on October 2025 claims data for non-CEP schools and the April 2025 CEP ISP report for CEP schools, has been posted to Squaremeals on the NSLP, CACFP, and Summer Feeding Administration/Forms pages.
December 17. 2025 - Increase to the micro-purchase threshold
On October 1, the Office of Management and Budget increased the micro-purchase threshold from $10,000 to $15,000. Effective immediately, all Contracting Entities can use this higher threshold when using the micro-purchase method of procurement. All handbooks will be updated early next year to reflect this new threshold. All other procurement requirements remain unchanged.
November 20. 2025 - WAIVER APPROVAL - Onsite monitoring waiver for day care home sponsors
USDA has approved a waiver giving TDA the discretion to allow sponsors of day care homes to conduct one of their three required monitoring visits offsite. Any day care home sponsor wishing to use the waiver must meet the following requirements:
- The sponsor must be in good standing.
- Providers monitored remotely must be in good standing.
- Sponsors must conduct at least one unannounced onsite monitoring review of each provider, including observation of meal service, annually.
- Sponsors that utilize review averaging cannot utilize this process for providers that will only be visited twice a year, regardless of distance from the sponsor’s office.
- All pre-approval visits, first four-week reviews for new providers, and serious deficiency follow-up reviews must be conducted in-person.
- Timing of reviews must adhere to federal requirements as described in the CACFP handbook.
- Sponsors approved last year for this waiver that did not submit required reports or had the waiver rescinded at any point are not eligible to use this waiver in PY 2026.
To apply for this waiver, CACFP sponsors must submit the CACFP Day Care Home Sponsor Onsite Monitoring Waiver Request Form. Sponsors who were not approved last year or who have since updated their offsite monitoring implementation plan must submit the CACFP Day Care Home Sponsor Offsite Monitoring Implementation Plan with their request form. Both the form and the implementation plan template are located on the CACFP Administration/Forms page.
Note that TDA is developing two additional waiver requests:
- A waiver to allow sponsors of child care centers and adult day care centers to conduct offsite monitoring.
- A waiver that would allow a second offsite monitoring review for sites/providers over 100 miles/2 hours’ distance from a sponsor’s nearest field office.
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