From: maximusheadroom@gmx.com   
      
   WA Somali-run daycare took $210,000 in taxpayer funds in 2025 but no childcare   
   business appears to exist: report   
      
   Hannah Nightingale   
      
   A new investigative report has uncovered daycare fraud undertaken by Somalis in   
   Washington State. A resident living at a home registered as a daycare center in   
   the state told reporters, when confronted that there has never been such a   
   business there.   
      
   Video showed journalist Cam Higby sending a decoy up to the home that is listed   
   as housing the business "Dhagash Childcare," with Higby saying that his decoy   
   heard "rustling around on the other side of the Ring camera, as if they were   
   listening to her but not responding."   
      
   Journalist Jonathan Choe said he also went to the house with Kristen Mag   
   immediately following Higby "to see if we get the same response, and we sort of   
   did." Choe was able to speak to a person who was inside the home through the   
   doorbell, asking, "is this Dhagash Family Childcare." The woman on the other   
   side replied, "no." He asked what the name of the childcare business was there,   
   and the woman replied, "I don't have childcare." He recounted asking if the   
   location had ever been a childcare place, and the woman said "no."   
      
   Washington State records show that the address is listed as a daycare, and the   
   Google page for the business lists it as a daycare. In 2025 alone, the business   
   has received over $210,000 in taxpayer funds.   
      
   The business is licensed to hold up to nine children, however, six slots were   
   open, Higby said. He added that a woman came up to them and said the people who   
   live in the house, who are the woman's neighbor, had texted and asked her to go   
   over and confront the reporters "because they thought we were ICE. So the next   
   question, are they illegal immigrants?"   
      
   Higby continued, "by what she said is, I've seen no evidence that there is a   
   daycare there. She actually said my husband and I were wondering how those   
   people afford that house, because she said the rent was $3,500 a month." The   
   neighbor said, "I haven't seen kids over there. I mean, I've seen one child   
   over   
   there like when they have family things but no, I have not seen any evidence of   
   daycare activity there."   
      
   Higby said that authorities had come and inspected the location in September   
   and   
   found "multiple long-term, short-term, serious, and immediate risks to   
   children," and that in the same month, they received $22,000.   
      
   Choe emphasized, "we're not alleging that every single one of these Somali-run   
   daycares are engaged in fraudulent activity," with Higby adding, "I mean, we   
   went to some today that seem totally legitimate." Choe continued, And the vast   
   majority may be legit, but the ones that we've investigated and the list that   
   we   
   still have that needs to be investigated, there are concerning signs.   
      
   This comes after reports of fraud in Washington State similar to those found in   
   Minnesota, with dozens of people being convicted. Investigative reporter for   
   the   
   Center Square, Carleen Johnson, posted to social media on Monday, "Just went to   
   four Somali run home daycare centers in Federal Way, WA that receive taxpayer   
   subsidies. Just like Nick Shirley found in MN, there were no children and no   
   one   
   willing to chat with this reporter. They threatened me with police."   
      
   "I didn't ask to come inside. There were no children present. This did not at   
   all appear to be a legit child care center receiving WA taxpayer subsidies."   
   She   
   added, "Funny thing is, I was standing on the street in front of the home at   
   the   
   time she screamed at me from an upstairs window. I have no doubt WA taxpayers   
   have been bilked of millions by this scam."   
      
   Kristen Mag noted that there are 539 childcare centers in Washington state that   
   list Somali as the primary language, and "most don't even give a street   
   address.   
   I don't know how many of these are submitting fraudulent claims for state   
   grants   
   and subsidies, but I have a strong hunch the number is not zero."   
      
      
   https://thepostmillennial.com/wa-somali-run-daycare-took-210000-   
   n-taxpayer-funds-in-2025-but-no-childcare-business-appears-to-exist-report   
      
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