KSTP investigates more fraud in CCAP childcare program
Jay Kolls of KSTP-5 TV performs a public service in his report last night on the 10 o’clock news. His headline:
62 investigations underway involving federally-funded Minnesota child care centers
It’s a short, six-minute video, you should watch the whole thing.
Kolls has been investigating this subject for months, doing the work that, frankly, the Dept. of Human Services (DHS) should be doing. The upshot: childcare operators with dozens of serious program violations are still receiving millions of dollars in payments from state government.
My favorite parts of the video (1:35 and 2:45 marks) show Kolls repeatedly visiting facilities only to find locked doors, and no people, much less children on site.
The program is called the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and readers will remember this was the original fraud scandal in the current cycle of the ScandalTracker series.
The first company Kolls mentions is Quality Learning Center, located on Nicollet Ave. in downtown Minneapolis. DHS records indicate that a licensing investigation has been underway since October 2024, with reviews and fines dating back to 2021.
At the 4:10 mark of the KSTP report comes the inevitable connection to the Feeding Our Future scandal. Kolls reports on Abdikadir Kadiye (Defendant No. 55 and Guilty Plea No. 12). Kadiye pled guilty to taking $1 million out of the free food programs.
Kolls reports that Kadiye operated a state-funded childcare center in Minneapolis, whose license was later revoked. Kadiye hasn’t been charged with any criminal violations related to CCAP.
But none of this should be of any surprise. MN Reformer has been reporting on the Feeding Our Future scandal from Day 1 and noted back in 2023:
About half of the people charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with stealing hundreds of millions from a federal program to feed children during the pandemic have been paid tens of millions more in state money for services such as providing child care and assisting seniors and people with disabilities.
Indeed, as the Sahan Journal reported back in 2022, the entire Feeding Our Future scandal has its origins in the childcare industry.
In the early days of the Feeding scandal, I did the same sort of leg work exercise performed by Kolls, looking up the addresses of the largest registered food distribution sites, including “active” childcare sites. I frequently found locations closed for business, if not abandoned altogether.
Over the years many people have been charged and convicted of defrauding CCAP. But whenever reporters or investigators raise questions about large-scale fraud, they are derided.
KARE-11: Child care fraud exists, but doesn’t live up to claims
Star Tribune: Fraud in Minnesota’s child care program not $100 million but still troubling
Fox 9: Report unable to offer reliable estimate of day care fraud
We get a real “shoot the messenger” approach to the story from state Democrats and most of the local legacy media. Reports get dismissed as being something between overblown and downright racist.
Yet, year after year, the evidence of massive fraud in CCAP continues to accumulate.
Unfortunately, the highest profile casualty of the ongoing shutdown of the state House of Representatives is the suspension of the newly formed Fraud Prevention committee.
We are now in Day 16 of the Constitutional Crisis.