The state of Washington promotes employment by providing child care subsidies to eligible low-income working families through the Working Connections Child Care program. The program uses government funds to provide approximately $300 million in subsidies annually. An in-home daycare provider reverted to childish ways when she used her business to defraud the state program out of $250,000. (It seems she was adept at taking things that did not belong to her and didn’t play well with others.)
According to the story, the woman, who ran her home day care business for more than a decade, claimed that she cared for two dozen children each day between two 12-hour shifts. (I bet she had quite a headache by the end of the day.) She admitted to submitting false reports to the state’s Department of Social and Health Services seeking $250,000 in reimbursement. (In these reports, she embellished the number of hours that she provided care, falsified daily log-in sheets and forged parent signatures when no care was actually provided.)
The 52-year-old former child care provider pleaded guilty to theft of public funds. She is looking at a 12- to 18-month prison sentence and has agreed to pay back $250,000 to the state program.
This woman was naïve to think that she could get away with stealing government funds from low-income families who were actually trying to earn a living so they could provide for their families. (There’s no doubt that the justice system will force her to put away her childish ways and behave like an adult.)
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