You are receiving this newsletter because you are enrolled in the WECA Food Program.

September 2023

Stay connected: Check out our current staff directory here.

Your Monthly News & Updates

National Days in September

Sept. 2: World Coconut Day

Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Martin and Archaumbault, 1989) and Coconut Kind of Day: Island Poems (Joseph, 1990) and taste dried, fresh, or frozen coconut!

Curious about how coconut credits on the Food Program?

(Image from the Crediting Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program, https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/crediting-handbook.pdf)

Food Program Anniversaries in September

10 years: Stephanie Williamson and Deborah Wampfler

25 years: Jillene Johnson

30 years: Lori McCullick

Congratulations on your commitment to serving nutritious meals and snacks to the children in your care!

Welcome to our New Providers!

Shamara in Milwaukee

Oralia in Milwaukee

Quiana in Milwaukee

Destiny in Milwaukee

Nijah in Milwaukee

Rachel in Racine

Michelle in Dorchester

Dorothy in Nekoosa

Components and Crediting

Ask the Food Program

Question:

“My child care kids are ‘opinionated’ eaters, and I am looking for ways to incorporate more vegetables into my meals. If I serve legume pasta, do I record this as a vegetable, or because it is pasta, is it a bread or bread alternate?”

Answer:

The Crediting Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program says, “Flour substitutes such as almond flour, bean flour, coconut flour, chickpea flour, hazelnut flour, Jerusalem artichoke flour, legume flour, potato flour, soy flour, and other vegetable flours are not grains and cannot count toward the grains component.” In short, they are not creditable as a bread/bread alternate.

Pasta made from 100% bean/pea flour credits as a vegetable. “For pasta/noodles made with less than 100% bean/pea flour, document meal pattern contribution with a CN label or Product Formulation Statement.”

Be sure to serve portion sizes correct for the ages of children in care:

(www.CACFP.org)

What Happened to Lettuce and Spinach in CACFP.Net?

When you serve leafy greens of any variety (including, but not limited to, lettuce, kale, spinach, or mustard greens,) select ‘All Leafy Greens’ from the drop-down menu in CACFP.Net.

Two servings of different leafy greens will NOT fulfill the fruit/vegetable requirements at a lunch or dinner. To meet Food Program requirements, you must offer a serving of a different vegetable OR a serving of a fruit.

Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP

CACFP Resource

Juice Reminder

Only 100% fruit or vegetable juice is creditable on the Food Program. You must choose your juice from the list of foods on the left side of your CACFP.Net online menu page, so the program can keep track of how many times you serve juice each day. A creditable juice product will state: Juice, full strength juice, single-strength juice, 100% juice, and reconstituted juice, juice from concentrate or juice concentrate. Items named cocktail, beverage or drink are not 100% juice and are not creditable.

Per USDA meal pattern requirements:

Juice is not creditable for infants.

You may serve juice once per day, per family day care home to children one year and up.

Institute of Child Nutrition: Vegetable Frittata

Looking for a new idea for breakfast? Look no farther! Institute of Child Nutrition shares this recipe for Vegetable Frittata.

Recipe

Want to Streamline Your Home Visit?

Home visits - to monitor adherence to the Food Program guidelines - must be completed three times during the fiscal year. At least two visits must be unannounced, and one of those must be a meal or snack observation.

Make Your Visits Easier - For You And For Your Area Coordinator!

Enter your menus and attendance online in CACFP.Net daily! Your Area Coordinator reviews your CACFP.Net claim information. When your information is current, they have the information they need to see

Which children were served:

Were infants served? Which infants? What were they served? The Area Coordinator tracks this on the Infant Log.
Were children with a documented Special Diet or Special Need served?
Meals and snacks your Area Coordinator observes being served to a child with a documented Special Diet, for example, must be consistent with the pattern established by the child’s doctor or other recognized medical authority.

What foods were served:

Were whole grains served? This information is tracked in the Menu and Product Review Log. Your Area Coordinator looks for recently served whole grains and other products such as yogurt (to verify sugar content,) cereals (to look for whole grain sources and to verify sugar content,) and Commercial Combination Foods (to look for CN labels or Product Analysis Sheets that should be stored onsite.)

What deductions did you have on your recent claims:

Your Area Coordinator will give you technical assistance and suggestions to minimize this error(s) and maximize your Food Program earnings!
If you were wrongly deducted, your Area Coordinator may be able to help resolve this, preventing future deductions. If the issue is discovered in time, you may be able to request an adjustment to your claim!

Your Area Coordinator will be able to use reports that generate from CACFP.Net – the same database in which you record menus and attendance – to complete a 5-Day Reconciliation, rather than doing that by hand in your home.

Being able to check these boxes BEFORE getting to your home allows your Area Coordinator to conduct a thorough and complete on-site visit more efficiently. It allows you both the opportunity to make the most of your visit – in a shorter timeframe!

Monitoring and Oversight

WECA’s Policy on Provider Suspension from

Wisconsin Shares

Here’s an important reminder of the WECA Food Program’s Wisconsin Shares Policy:

If a provider is suspended from the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy payment system, WECA will suspend that provider from Food Program participation effective the date of the Shares suspension, until the provider communicates to WECA what their intention is regarding the Shares suspension: i.e., to stay open and appeal suspension, or to close the family child care center.

If a provider intends to close and not appeal, or fails to communicate with WECA within seven working days of the suspension, then WECA will drop that provider.

If the provider states they intend to stay open and provide care for the children even though she/he is not being guaranteed payment, or has private pay children and remains regulated, WECA will closely monitor that provider. WECA may request that a copy of state attendance records be sent with the monthly claim to ensure the claim is valid. Additional requirements such as monthly parent signatures on attendance records may also be required.

2023 – 2024 WI WIC Income Eligibility Information

Current WIC Income Eligibility Information can be found here.

State Attendance Records Do Not Substitute for Daily Meal Counts

Your menus and meal counts (including each child’s name or ID number) must be recorded online by the end of each business day. Paper templates are to be used for emergencies only. You must report your emergency to your Area Coordinator to receive approval to use a paper template. This is granted on a temporary, case-by-case basis.

State attendance records will not be accepted by your Area Coordinator as a substitute for your daily meal counts. State attendance records will be used ONLY to compare with your Food Program records. (Source: WI FDCH Guidance Memorandum L, 2/2022)

Do you Have a 5-Year-Old in School and in Care for 3 Hours or Less?

Are you a licensed provider caring for a child who is 5 years old, in school and in care 3 or fewer hours per day? You must complete this form to be properly paid:

Click Here

CACFP Reimbursement Rates for 2023-24