The person who handled your Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) paperwork just left. Your next claim is still due, your CACFP records and data still have to be reachable, and your state login still has to work. Start there, not with the job posting.
The First 48 Hours
- Locate the records and confirm someone on site can open them.
- Notify your state agency and submit your management plan update.
- Reassign system access so you can still file a claim.
The hiring can wait a week. The claim can’t.
Step #1 — Locate the Records, Paper and Electronic
The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requires that program records be kept at the primary business office listed on your application, that they be available during normal business hours, and that someone from your organization be able to meet a reviewer there with no more than four hours’ notice (CACFP Handbook, Section 2250). That requirement doesn’t care whether your records are paper or digital. It cares whether you can produce them.
Electronic records are allowed, with conditions. If staff complete meal count and attendance records electronically at the point of service, TDA requires that you can (Form H1535 instructions):
- Capture the signature and date securely for the site representative
- Print the form on demand, so records stay available for review
- Plan for technical difficulties such as system failures
A password only your departed employee knew is a technical difficulty.
Run the check on both halves:
- Paper: can someone on site open the binder and the filing cabinet tomorrow morning?
- Electronic: can a current employee log in, pull last month’s records, and print them today?
- In between: if staff filled out forms by hand and someone keyed the data into a spreadsheet or database, TDA still requires the original signed form on file. Find those.
Records must be kept for three years from the end of the program year, and longer if an audit finding, claim, or litigation is still open. This covers closed months too.
Step #2 — Notify Your State Agency
Your management plan lists (Section 2220):
- Names and functions of your officers, agents, consultants, volunteers, and employees
- Program staffing assigned to program management and monitoring
TDA requires changes to your application or management plan to be submitted “as they occur,” and the plan can only be amended with TDA’s approval (Sections 2290 and 2293).
There’s no published day count in Texas, so don’t wait for one. TDA states the consequence instead: if you fail to request changes in advance, your claims for reimbursement may be delayed or negatively affected.
If the person who left was one of your “principals” — leadership rather than kitchen staff — TDA also requires updated information for the incoming principal (Section 2730):
- A government-issued photo ID
- Proof of residential mailing address
Step #3 — Reassign System Access
Two rules govern access to the state’s online program system:
- Access is assigned to named individuals, not to your center as an entity.
- An authorized representative must be an employee of your organization, so a consultant or contractor can’t hold that role for you.
TDA’s Administrator’s Reference Manual instructs organizations to resubmit the user access form when staff change, including deleting an authorized representative as well as adding one.
What to do this week:
- Stop using the departed employee’s login.
- Call your state agency and ask for the current user access form.
- Get access issued in a current employee’s name.
This step quietly blocks everything else, including submitting the claim.
The Handover Checklist: Functions to Reassign
TDA expects documented, qualified staff for each program function (Section 2221.2). Write down where the records live and who owns each one now:
- Directing and managing the program
- Training staff and sites
- Determining eligibility for participants
- Managing finances
- Meal counts, menus, and attendance records
- Purchasing and procurement
- Maintaining records, audit-ready
- Civil rights requirements
- Preparing and submitting claims
Budget and Staff Amendments: What Triggers One
If program money paid any part of that position, expect an amendment. TDA requires one when (Section 2230):
| Change to your budget | Amendment required |
|---|---|
| A single line item increases or decreases by at least 10% | Yes |
| A new line item is added | Yes |
| Money moves from one approved line item to another | Yes |
Losing a cook and rehiring at a different wage clears that bar more often than not. Two rules govern the timing:
- No retroactive amendments. TDA won’t approve them.
- Approval before spending. All budgeted costs require prior approval.
If the departing employee split hours between food service and other duties, you’ll also need an updated Time Distribution Report for whoever picks the work up.
Hiring the Replacement: Two Checks Before Day One
1. Disqualified List Verification
TDA requires organizations to check both USDA’s National Disqualified List and the Texas Excluded SFSP List at three points (Section 2710):
- Before hiring employees for management positions or program activities
- Before signing site or provider agreements
- Periodically afterward, in case someone is added
As of March 2026, TDA extended that verification to contractors and affiliates, not only employees (Section 2100).
Listings run seven years, and a listed individual can’t hold a management position in your organization — board member, director, owner, co-owner, or partner. Check before you make the offer.
2. Documented Qualifications
TDA requires that a staff member’s actual qualifications align with the qualifications required at the time of hire. Hiring a capable person is the easy half. Writing down why they’re qualified is the half that gets skipped. Keep three things on file:
- The functions you assigned them
- The qualifications those functions call for
- The evidence: prior experience, certificates, or training records
Training the New Person, and Proving You Did
TDA’s summary of common review findings lists training as a repeat problem: organizations that didn’t train new staff, current staff, and site staff before those people began program duties, and organizations that trained people but kept no proof. In the Texas reviews we sampled — 142 records from review year 2023 — monitoring and training produced seven findings.
TDA’s guidance is specific about what to keep:
- Timing: at least once annually, before program operations begin
- Documentation: the date, the names of attendees, and the topics covered
- In practice: one corrective action in our sample also required a sign-in sheet and an agenda
Train the replacement in week one and keep the paperwork, even if the training is you walking them through your own binder.
Quick Compliance Checklist
- Records located, reachable, and covering three years
- Management plan updated; new principal information submitted if leadership changed
- System access reassigned in a current employee’s name
- Amendment requested before new spending; Time Distribution Report updated
- Disqualified list checks completed before the offer
- Training completed in week one, with date, attendees, and topics on file
The One Line That Prevents All of This
TDA already requires your written program procedures to identify who is responsible for each task by position — and a “backup” staff member for it (Section 2221). Most centers write the first half and stop.
Three moves:
- Add a second name to every task that has only one.
- Tell that person they’re the backup.
- Write down the sponsor split, if a sponsor handles part of your program, so the next person inherits a map instead of a guess.
Need Help After a Staffing Change?
Turnover in the one role that knows your food program is a lot to handle. CACFP Solutions can help you:
- Rebuild your records and get them audit-ready after a handover
- Prepare and submit management plan updates and budget amendments
- Keep menus and meal production records compliant while you hire
- File your claims without the manual headache
You don’t have to choose between covering the paperwork and running your center. Book a Meeting Today!