**Minnesota Child Care Scandal: Where Are the Kids?**
In a story that sounds like it could be pulled straight from a bad sitcom, Minnesota is facing what can only be described as a massive child care fraud scandal. State officials have recently come clean—no pun intended—about their inability to verify if child care providers are even operating as legitimate facilities. As millions of tax dollars are flowing to daycare centers, it appears many of them have no kids in sight. Yes, you read that right: money is being handed out while empty buildings sit around with no children to be found.
The roots of this mess can be traced back to a program called the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which started in 2013. It seems there are high-risk programs where annual site visits aren’t even a requirement. One recent jury conviction was overturned because investigators were unable to find evidence that certain daycares were anything but a front. In one instance, a daycare was reported to be run out of a post office box. Now, that’s innovative, but probably not the kind of innovation taxpayers were hoping for.
Independent journalist Nick Shirley, on the case, decided to investigate these so-called daycare centers himself. He found places listed on the Minnesota state website claiming to have 102 children enrolled but, curiously, no children were present at their facilities. Just imagine receiving $2.66 million in government funding and not one child to show for it. It’s a classic case of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
As Shirley continued his rounds, he ventured into another facility, Sweet Angel Child Care, which claims to be licensed for 74 kids and received a whopping $1.26 million in state money for the fiscal year 2025. The only problem? No kids were there either. The doors were closed, and the staff seemed just as puzzled as everyone else about the lack of children. It was like a twisted version of “Where’s Waldo?” but instead of a striped shirt, they were searching for little ones. Spoiler alert: they didn’t find any lil’ Waldos.
The state’s response—or lack thereof—is mind-boggling. They’re supposedly unable to verify who is running these daycare centers, yet they can afford to let billions of dollars in fraud slip through the cracks. It’s perplexing that they can assert so confidently that the fraud is rampant, yet they can’t muster the resources or the will to conduct simple site visits. If you’re wondering how this could even happen, you’re not alone. Minnesota may need to rethink its oversight, because a program designed to care for children shouldn’t look like a game of hide-and-seek with taxpayer money.
At the end of the day, this whole debacle leaves many questions unanswered. Where is all the money going? Why can’t state officials be bothered to check on these “legitimate” businesses? The only thing that’s clear is that transparency seems to be in short supply, and citizens aren’t happy about it. As the saying goes, “Wake up, America!” because when it comes to tax dollars intended for child care, it seems that fraud is thriving while accountability is having a long nap.
