Minnesota agency investigating over 150 providers receiving funding from state child care program
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, amid the ongoing fraud scandal in the state, said Friday that it's looking into 158 providers who receive funding from a program aimed at making child care affordable for its residents.
The state agency earlier this month said it had 55 open investigations involving providers receiving Child Care Assistance Program funding, which officials say supports 23,000 children and 12,000 families in accessing health care, and invested $306.6 million for affordable child care for Minnesota in fiscal year 2024.
"DCYF remains committed to fact-based reviews that stop fraud, protect children, support families, maintains the public trust, and minimize disruption to communities that rely on these essential services," the state agency said in a statement on Friday.
Conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, in a video posted last month, alleged nearly 12 day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service.
The state agency said that it was already investigating four of the facilities discussed in the video when it was released. Officials said Friday they had "no public information to share" about the probes.
According to the DCYF, nine of the facilities mentioned by Shirley were "operating as expected" when investigators recently conducted on-site checks.
On Jan. 5, the state agency announced a round of "additional on-site compliance checks."
"Following standard practice, each of these site visits was opened as an investigation until records obtained during the visit were reviewed," officials said in the release.
CBS News conducted its own analysis of nearly a dozen day care centers mentioned in the video: all but two have active licenses, according to state records, and all active locations were visited by state regulators within the last six months.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, R-Kentucky, said Friday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison will testify before the group in March during a hearing on fraud and the "misuse" of federal funds in the state. Republicans on the committee launched an investigation into Walz's handling of a series of multimillion-dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota last December.