Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) Parent Portal

Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) was developed by Congress and is funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The federal government makes the rules for this program. This program gives students with free and reduced-price meal benefits through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) funding for meals missed while being out of school during the pandemic. The money on these cards can be used for food only.

What You Can See on the P-EBT Parent Portal

After linking your child’s account, you will have access to information regarding your child’s P-EBT case, including:

1. P-EBT Benefit Status: This indicates the status of your child’s P-EBT benefits. “Awaiting issuance” means the child’s case is in process, but benefits have not yet been issued. “Eligible” means the student is eligible for the P-EBT program. This does not indicate the student is eligible for every month of the P-EBT program.
2. P-EBT Benefit Amount: This is the benefit amount that has been issued for one month of P-EBT benefits.
3. P-EBT Benefit Issue Date: This is the date on which the listed month’s benefits were issued.
4. Learning Style: This was the learning style, as submitted by the school, for the listed month.
5. P-EBT Benefit Start Month: This is the month for which benefits were issued. It is always a single month with the last date of the month being listed under “P-EBT Benefit End Month.”

Depending on the information submitted by your child’s school, it is possible to have as few as one entry or as many as 11 entries in the P-EBT Portal. If any month is not listed on the Portal, it means either the school did not submit information for that month or that the school did not submit the student as eligible for that month – i.e. the student was submitted as in-person for that month.

If you believe there is an issue with any of the information in the Portal, please contact the school or school district. They must submit any necessary changes directly to DCFS.

How to Register on P-EBT Parent Portal

First, you will need to create an account within the CAFE Self Service Portal. You can view detailed instructions on how to do so here.

Now that you’ve created a CAFÉ account, you can navigate to the P-EBT Portal within CAFÉ. To link a student’s P-EBT case to your CAFE account, you will need the following information:

• Student Date of Birth
• Student First Name
• Student Last Name
• Local Student ID
• School Name

Providing this information allows you to view your child’s P-EBT case.

If you have more than one child receiving P-EBT, you can link each of their cases to your CAFÉ account by following the same steps.

NOTE: It is important to log out of CAFÉ at the end of each session. Otherwise, if you return later and try to log in, your account may be temporarily frozen and you may be unable to log in again until the system resets at midnight.

What Can I Do on the P-EBT Parent Portal

After linking your child’s account, you can request changes to your child’s P-EBT case, including:

• Learning Style
• Mailing Address

You can also:

• Request a New Card
• Change the PIN Number on Your Card

How to Access P-EBT Parent Portal Login

To access the parent portal, follow the procedures outlined below.

• Visit the P-EBT parent portal in your state.
• provide your User ID and Password
• Thereafter, click on the login button to access the parent portal dashboard.