Minnesota lawmakers call for hearing, investigation into Child Care Assistance Program
On Tuesday night, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS first reported there are 62 investigations into the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and those inquiries are being done by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).
CCAP serves 12,000 low-income families and helps them afford child day care across the state. It is a federally funded program with a yearly expenditure in the neighborhood of $34 million.
KSTP uncovered some day care centers receiving millions of dollars in CCAP money even though they had repeat violations, many of them which could threaten the health and safety of children, over multiple years.
And those day care centers still received millions of taxpayer dollars despite their poor regulatory history.
Rep. Kristin Robbins is the lead Republican on the newly created Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee.
Robbins told KSTP her committee, once things are sorted out at the Capitol, will hold hearings about the findings presented in the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS story and she advocated for a new investigation for the CCAP program.
“So, I think we need a deeper, wider investigation,” said Robbins. “Not only through your story, but through some whistleblowers that have reached out to me, it’s stunning that there are 62 open investigations currently.”
Robbins said she would like to change state law to give DHS the authority to stop CCAP payments when a day care center has a poor safety track record.
“If they have serious concerns to put someone on a conditional use permit, or to cite them for hundreds of violations, we should have a stop payment until those things are resolved,” said Robbins.
KSTP reached out to the office of Gov. Tim Walz and DFL House leadership for comment but has not yet heard back.