Fraud allegations against Minnesota daycares have resulted in the Trump administration putting centers nationwide under the microscope. The move comes at a time when families are increasingly stretched to afford and find quality care for their children.
CBN News spoke to Anthony Andrews, who owns a daycare center in Lynchburg, Virginia. “Being a firefighter, I had witnessed some centers that weren’t high quality,” he says.
That led him to open the type of center he wanted for his kids – Teachable Moments. “Yes, we’re in the childcare business, but we’re also in the trust business, and I want you to trust me, and I want you to trust my staff,” he says.
Across America, daycares are finding themselves under a magnifying glass since a post went viral from a YouTuber in Minnesota who uncovered alleged daycare fraud.
“They literally spelled the word wrong on their sign. This is open and blatant fraud taking place here,” Nick Shirley says in one of his videos as he stands in front of the “Quality Learing Center” – one of the daycares that has come under fire.
Shirley drew attention specifically to a number of daycares run by Somali immigrants receiving millions in taxpayer assistance. His citizen reporting set off a firestorm and national intrigue into what was actually going on behind oftentimes blacked out windows.
“We’re talking about the Quality Learning Center near downtown Minneapolis. First it was closed, then it was open, and now we’ve confirmed that it’s closed again,” reported KTSP, the ABC affiliate in Twin Cities.
The possibility of fraud, with taxpayers footing big parts of the bill, drew national outrage.
“It makes me want to knee somebody in the groin. It just makes me furious,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said on the Senate floor.
The Trump administration leapt into action, freezing some $10 billion in federal funding for child care and social services.
“Where there are daycare centers where there are no kids, it’s a scam. It’s a big scam. It’s, like, a horrible thing,” President Trump said at an event at the White House.
A number of the daycare centers in Shirley’s post remain under investigation, and Minnesota state officials are conducting increased compliance checks on daycares that participate in government programs.
The allegations come amid a backdrop of jaw-dropping amounts of fraud in Minnesota related to childcare services, as federal prosecutors convicted a number of Somali immigrants for defrauding billions of tax dollars.
“The magnitude of fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated. It’s staggering amounts of money that have been lost,” said Joe Thompson, a former U.S. Attorney in Minnesota.
The fluid situation has some daycare owners hesitant to speak out. The owner of a Christian daycare in California tells CBN News she believes the president to be ill-informed. She says strict guidelines for both schools and parents to follow make defrauding the system difficult.
Anthony Andrews agrees that committing fraud would be hard to pull off. “I do think it’s pretty difficult to defraud the system and just receive federal funding or state funding without being operational. I don’t know how you would manipulate that system,” he says.
The uproar comes as an increasing number of families find childcare hard to find or painful to afford. Over the last five years, childcare costs have risen nearly 30%, taking the national average to more than $13,000 per year for one child. That’s 10% of a married couple’s median salary and 35% of a single parent’s.
Last year, according to Childcare Aware, in at least 45 states, the annual cost of childcare for two children exceeded annual mortgage payments.
Nationally, at least $29 billion in tax dollars are used to help families pay for daycare. The Trump administration says fraudulent behavior amounts to stealing from Americans who desperately need that assistance.
“We know that the fraud isn’t just happening in Minneapolis; it’s also happening in states like Ohio. It’s happening in states like California,” Vice President JD Vance said during a recent White House briefing.
And they’re not stopping there. The administration has created a new interagency task force to investigate fraud, and they’re appointing a new assistant attorney general who will have national jurisdiction to prosecute cases.
Back in Virginia, Andrews says if there is fraud, he’s happy law enforcement is working to find it. “At the end of the day, if somebody is defrauding the industry, it puts a stain on the industry. It puts a stain on those directors, those teachers, those administrators who are all out there doing the right thing every day,” he said.
A stain on the industry and outrage among some Americans about how their tax dollars are being used when an increasing number of families need assistance.
