Issues in Food Assistance. Program Targeting: Effects of Reimbursement Tiering on the Child and Adult Care Food Program

摘要

A 1995 study of the family child care homes portion of the Child and Adult Care Food program (CACFP) found that nearly 80 percent of children served came from middle and higher income families. To refocus the program on low-income children, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) mandated an income-targeted meal reimbursement structure and called for a study of its effects. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) contracted with Abt Associates Inc., for a study of the effect of tiered meal reimbursement on the family child care homes portion of the CACFP. This comprehensive study was based on administrative data and nationally representative samples of participating family child care homes, their sponsoring organizations, and the parents of the children they served.