• Three-year pilot program
• Grants to States to help provide meals for children when school is not in session.
• Two components - Child Care and Summer 
• Child Care participation - 1969 - about 23,000 children at about 900 sites

1972:  Three-year extension

1975:  Separate Child Care Food Program (CCFP) and Summer Food Service Program. Authorized for CCFP:

• Institutions must meet licensing standards
• Eligibility extended to day care homes
• Reimbursement structure and eligibility for free and reduced price meals modeled after school lunch program 
• In 1975, last year of grant program, about 375,000 participated at 11,700 sites

1978:  Public Law 95-627 made CCFP permanent:

• Created separate reimbursement structure for day care homes - separate administrative payments for sponsors, single rate for all meals, no eligibility determinations
• Authorized alternate approval when other Federal, State or local licensing or approval was not available
• Mandated advance payments for institutions requesting them

1979 - 1981:  Program grew significantly from 30,300 sites and 598,000 children to 64,700 sites and 778,000 children, largely, through the increased participation of day care homes.

1981:  The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (P.L. 97-35) significantly amended the program:

• Authorized reimbursement for meals served to day care home providers' own children only if they qualify for free or reduced price meals
• Reduced reimbursement rates
• Limited reimbursement to 2 meals and 1 snack for each child, each day
• Lowered eligible age to 12

Nevertheless, the program continued to grow until, by 1997, more than 1.5 million children were participating in over 126,000 sites.

Day care home participation grew at an especially fast pace. In 1983 (the first year that separate data were reported for centers and homes), over 58,000 homes participated, serving a little more than 250,000 children. In 1997, nearly one million children participated in over 193,000 homes.

1987:  The Older Americans Act of 1987 (P.L. 100-175) authorized participation of eligible adult day care centers. 

1989:  The program was renamed the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

1994:  The Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-448):

• Extended automatic free meal eligibility for most children participating in Head Start
• Allowed three-year applications in place of annual applications for institutions
• Authorized or extended several demonstration projects, including a for-profit centers project in Kentucky and Iowa, and a project providing meals or supplements to children, between the ages of 13 and 18, in areas with high rates of violence or drug and alcohol abuse

1996:  The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) made changes designed to improve the targeting of benefits:

• Replaced single reimbursement rate for meals served in day care homes with a 2-tiered structure based on area or provider's need
• Eliminated reimbursement for a fourth meal
• Made payment of advance funds a State, not an institution, option
• Required cost of living adjustments for meals served in homes and for paid meals served in centers, to the nearest lower whole cent

1998:  The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-336):

• Authorized CACFP reimbursement for snacks to children through age 18 in afterschool care programs
• Amended licensing requirements for outside-school- hours care centers, schools, and for-profit Title XX centers
• Established a 180-day time limit on moving towards tax-exempt status 
• Consolidated benefits for homeless children
• Changed the method of rounding of reimbursement rates
• Reinstated automatic eligibility for free meals for children participating in Even Start
• Permanently authorized the demonstration project for for-profit centers in Kentucky and Iowa

2000:  The Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-224) made changes designed to strengthen program management:

• Added new eligibility criteria for institutions, requirements for approval of institutions, monitoring requirements for State agencies and sponsoring organizations, parent notification, management improvement training, and procedures on withholding of administrative funds 
• Authorized procedures for the termination of institutions and recovery of payments to institutions that result from an invalid claim, fraud or abuse
• Expanded the "Kentucky/Iowa demonstration project" to include for-profit centers in the State of Delaware 
• Expanded the "at-risk" afterschool care component of CACFP to allow reimbursement for suppers to children through age 18 in afterschool care programs in six States 

2000:  The Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2001 (P.L. 106-554) extended eligibility to for-profit child care centers and outside-of-school-hours care centers serving low-income children in all States, from December 21, 2000 through September 30, 2001.

2001:  The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (P.L. 107-76):

• Authorized supper benefits in afterschool care programs in Illinois (in addition to Delaware, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Oregon)
• Extended CACFP eligibility to for-profit centers serving low-income children through fiscal year 2002 

Child Nutrition    CACFP