Fox 9 Report on Child Care Fraud Yields Senate Hearing

In response to a Fox 9 investigative report on potential fraud in the Department of Human Services child care assistance program, the Committee on Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee held an informational meeting Tuesday, May 15, to explore the scope of fraud in the child care assistance program.

According to the Fox 9 report, money in suitcases are leaving MSP airport to the middle east, and in 2017, the amount totaled about $100 million dollars. The report further cited Glen Kerns, who served on a FBI terrorism task force, contending that some of the money leaving the SeaTac airport was funneled to terrorists organizations, and the problem is occurring nationally. Kerns further said in the report that money was being generated through welfare fraud, "it's all about the day care," Kerns was featured telling Fox 9.

The committee heard testimony form Scott Stillman, a former employee of the Department of Human Services, who said that through his work on day care fraud in the Department of Human Services, "they were significant. They were overwhelming. The dollar amounts were upwards of fifteen million. I was overwhelmed with the data that I was receiving."

Department of Human Services Acting Commissioner Chuck Johnson said the department has ten active child care fraud cases under investigation. He said, "I don't know that the numbers that have been talked about here are credible." He explained that the child care assistance program budget is about $250 million and the largest billing by a child care center in the past several years has been $12 million dollars. "You can't defraud us more than you are billing us for, and I think we just need to get our arms around the number and understand what's credible here and what isn't."