From: maximusheadroom@gmx.com   
      
   WA Auditor: Missing data made it 'impossible' to track where child care federal   
   funds went   
      
   Ari Hoffman   
      
   "We have to get that information from the agency. and we haven't been able to   
   get that information for the last four years."   
      
   As scrutiny over Washington's child care funding system continues to intensify   
   following investigations of fraud allegations, the Washington State Auditor's   
   Office has revealed sweeping oversight and accountability gaps at the   
   Department   
   of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), including the inability to track   
   provider-level payment data for four consecutive years.   
      
   While state officials continue to insist there is no proven fraud, the State   
   Auditor's findings reveal a deeper problem: for four years, Washington lacked   
   the basic data needed to show where hundreds of millions of dollars went. State   
   Auditor Pat McCarthy told KOMO News that DCYF's lack of detailed provider data   
   has repeatedly hampered audits and left billions in taxpayer-funded spending   
   unverifiable. "They are probably the most risky of all of the departments in   
   state government," McCarthy told the outlet, citing DCYF's size, scope, and the   
   vulnerable populations it serves.   
      
   The auditor's comments come as her office is finalizing an audit of the Child   
   Care and Development Fund, a $770 million federal program administered by DCYF   
   that paid subsidies to roughly 7,400 child care providers in the most recent   
   fiscal year. The audit began before daycare funding allegations went viral   
   nationwide, following fraud cases uncovered in Minnesota, and is expected to be   
   completed in March.   
      
   According to McCarthy, DCYF has remained a high-risk agency for years. She   
   pointed to findings from the FY24 audit that questioned more than $400 million   
   in federal program costs because the state failed to maintain documentation   
   required under federal law.   
      
   One audit finding states that DCYF's failure to keep adequate supporting   
   records   
   made it "impossible" for auditors to trace payments of federal dollars to   
   individual providers. As a result, auditors said they could not determine   
   whether longstanding compliance problems had improved or worsened.   
      
   Because the agency could not allow auditors to trace grant expenditures down to   
   the payment level, the auditor's office formally questioned $415,579,473 in   
   federal costs during the audit period. "We will look at individual providers   
   when we do those audits," McCarthy said, "but we have to get that information   
   from the agency. and we haven't been able to get that information for the last   
   four years."   
      
   Despite the auditor's stark assessment, DCYF's Oversight Board addressed the   
   issue only briefly during a meeting held in private, even as agency leaders   
   testified before the State Senate about fraud allegations engulfing DCYF in   
   recent weeks. DCYF Chief Programming Officer Jenny Heddin told the board that   
   the agency audited about 2,000 child care providers in 2025, only 23 percent of   
   subsidy recipients, despite Democratic officials previously claiming that every   
   Washington daycare was audited annually. Of those audits, 14 providers were   
   referred to the Office of Fraud and Accountability, but none resulted in   
   prosecutions or convictions.   
      
   DCYF officials stated that the agency does not consider overpayments to be   
   fraud. Leaders said they have mechanisms to recover the roughly $2 million in   
   overpayments identified last year, including wage garnishment and liens.   
      
   The revelations add fuel to an already heated debate in Washington. Independent   
   journalists have been investigating alleged "ghost daycares" with no students,   
   unexplained data changes on DCYF's website, and a lack of transparency in   
   subsidy payments. Meanwhile, state leaders, including the Attorney General, the   
   Speaker of the House, the governor, Democratic leadership, and Seattle's mayor,   
   have dismissed fraud allegations and demonized journalists investigating the   
   issue.   
      
   At the federal level, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) has called for   
   program-integrity reviews by HHS and USDA, citing Minnesota as a cautionary   
   tale   
   and urging independent verification that Washington's safeguards are working.   
      
   https://thepostmillennial.com/wa-auditor-missing-data-made-it-im   
   ossible-to-track-where-child-care-federal-funds-went   
      
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