Enrollment Documentation

This Management Bulletin provides updated guidance on the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) enrollment documentation requirements for children enrolled in each child care center (CCC) and day care home (DCH). The requirements do not apply to outside school hours centers, at-risk afterschool centers, and emergency shelters.

Per Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, sections 226.15(e) and 226.18(e), each CCC and DCH must ensure that a child’s enrollment form contains the following information:

• The normal days and hours that a child is in care at the center or home

• The meals that the child ordinarily would receive during normal hours at the center or home

• The parent’s or guardian’s signature or initial, and date signed

If a CCC or DCH maintains accurate, daily sign-in/sign-out sheets that identify the time a child arrives and leaves the center or home (as certified by the parent or authorized representative of the parent), enrollment forms do not have to state the normal days and hours that a child is in care or meals consumed at the center or home [Note: the preceding sentence was modified to include "or meals consumed at the center or home" on January 19, 2018, for clarification].

The enrollment form is valid from the original date signed until the end of the 12 month period and must be updated annually, before it expires. Centers and providers can choose to have all the parents or guardians update the enrollment forms for the children during the same month of the year or they can stagger the updates. A new enrollment form is not necessary to fulfill the annual requirement. The parent or guardian can sign and date the original enrollment application to fulfill the annual enrollment requirement.

For example, if a child enrolls on August 15, the enrollment form is valid from August 15 of the current year to August 31 of the following year. The annual update of the enrollment form must be completed by August 31 to claim the child’s meals for the following 12 month period.

Note: Agencies should not confuse enrollment form duration with the effective date or duration of a meal benefit form (MBF). If a center certifies a participant’s MBF on August 20, the MBF is valid from August 1 through August 31.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your assigned CACFP Specialist. The two lists of CACFP Specialists, a center specialist by county list, and a DCH sponsor specialist by sponsor name list, are available on the CACFP Contact List.

Questions: CACFPInfo@dss.ca.gov