Indianapolis Daycare Regains Federal Meal Funding
Indiana families using church-based child care should ask providers how their meals are funded and what happens if that support changes.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Child Care
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The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the Indiana Department of Education improperly terminated Mt. Zion's Loving Day Care Ministry, an Indianapolis church-based nonprofit, from the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program. The court reinstated the daycare's eligibility to participate in the program.
Why it matters
For Indiana families who rely on licensed child care, the ruling shows that federal meal subsidies can be cut off over paperwork and labeling disputes even when a provider has been corrected over time. The daycare serves more than 100 infants and children with four meals a day, so a termination would have raised meal costs and disrupted care for those families.
The IDOE reviewed the daycare in 2015, 2018 and October 2022, and accepted a revised corrective-action plan in early 2023 before proposing termination in August 2023. The proposed penalty would have disqualified the daycare and three administrators from the program for seven years.
The players
Indiana Department of Education (IDOE)
The state agency that administers the Child and Adult Care Food Program in Indiana and conducts nutrition reviews of licensed child care providers.
Indiana Supreme Court
The state's highest court, which issued the split decision reinstating the daycare's program eligibility.
Sysco
A major food distributor whose failure to supply certain nutritional labels Mt. Zion cited in its corrective-action plan.
The details
Reviews found missing child-nutrition labels, inadequate food quantities, insufficient milk purchases and whole-grain failures. Mt. Zion attributed the labeling failures to its food distributor, Sysco, which it said did not provide certain nutritional labels during COVID-19-related disruptions. The daycare responded by hiring a food-program specialist, buying meal-planning software and taking legal steps to obtain the missing labels.
Timeline
2015: IDOE administrative review identifies meal portion and nutrition violations.
2018: IDOE administrative review identifies meal portion and nutrition violations.
October 2022: IDOE review identifies additional labeling and nutrition violations.
Early 2023: IDOE accepts Mt. Zion's revised corrective-action plan.
October 26, 2026: Indiana Supreme Court issues split decision favoring Mt. Zion.
The Home Front
The Child and Adult Care Food Program subsidizes meals for children in licensed day care settings, which makes it a significant cost factor for family-based and church-run providers across Indiana. Disputes over program compliance can directly determine whether a provider remains open to working families.
If your child attends a licensed daycare, ask the provider whether it participates in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and how meals are funded. Keep a copy of your provider's license and any notices about meal programs so you can plan for changes in cost or schedule.
The takeaway
Program eligibility can be restored through the courts, but families benefit from knowing whether their provider depends on federal meal funding. Ask your daycare directly how its meals are funded and what would happen to care if that funding changed.
Further reading
For more on how child care providers and families navigate these rules, explore Child Care coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by InkFreeNews.
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