Senator Collins Presses for Stronger Oversight to Prevent Fraud in Federally Funded Child Care Programs

Click HERE for a full-resolution image.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing focused on fraud in federally funded child care programs, U.S. Senator Susan Collins pressed witnesses on the need for stronger oversight and clearer accountability standards to protect taxpayer dollars. Senator Collins underscored that every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar that cannot be used to support working families who rely on child care services, particularly in rural areas where options are already limited.

Q&A on Preventing Fraud in Child Care Programs

Click HERE to watch and HERE to download video of this exchange

Sen. Collins:

I've been a strong supporter of federal programs ranging from the Child Care Development Block Grant to tax credits to workforce legislation to try to strengthen our network of child care centers and providers, but we're still falling woefully short, particularly in a lot of rural areas. I want to point out that I agree with the Senator from Ohio when he reminds us that every dollar that's lost to fraud is a dollar that could be used to provide quality child care to another child, and I think that's why this hearing is so important.

So, Dr. Polito, you mentioned in your testimony that the state of Louisiana does daily licensing inspections. This was something that Mr. Wilde also mentioned, and I think you said that 35% of centers receive unannounced monthly compliance visits. So, I think that that's very different from what Senator Murray is talking about. We're not talking about any random person going into a child care center. You're talking about state inspectors, is that correct?

Dr. Paula Polito:

Thank you for the question, Senator Collins. And yes, that is exactly correct. So, 25% to 30% of Louisiana's licensing visits are unannounced, and I think that is critical because every day child care centers should be doing what is right for children, not just on the days that licensing is scheduled to step in. But I'd also add that in Louisiana, we have a robust accountability system that also has visits that are unannounced. And these visits are not simply looking at "are our light switches covered?" These observers are coming in, they're counting each child, and they're looking at publicly funded child care to ensure that the interactions that are happening between our teachers and children are quality interactions.

So, I would argue it's layers of accountability. It's our licensing inspections, it's unannounced inspections, it's observations because, again, as everyone up here has echoed, it is about preparing children for success later on in life, not about babysitting.

###

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet