EXCERPT FROM: Journal Sentinel
By Raquel Rutledge
Someone picked up the phone and called.
That's how the Journal Sentinel's ongoing "Cashing in on Kids" investigation got started.
In July 2008, the newspaper received a tip after a baby died in a day care van. The baby never should have been at the center, the tipster said. His mother had been laid off, so she was not eligible for state-subsidized child care.
The tip triggered an investigation into the $350 million Wisconsin Shares program, launched in 1997 to help move mothers from welfare to work.
About 35,000 families across the state participate in the program, many of them legitimately.
But the Journal Sentinel has found that millions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered by corrupt parents and providers scamming the system.
In one case, the newspaper found a child-care provider had reaped nearly $3 million from the program, built a mansion with an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court and bought a swank sports car while regulators ignored red flags that she was conning the system.
In another, the investigation identified hundreds of criminals working in the child-care business, including a woman who had repeatedly beaten a girl with an electrical cord.
Most recently the newspaper uncovered more than a dozen drug dealers, including some of Milwaukee's biggest crime bosses, who had ties to child-care centers.
In some cases, government workers tried to blow a whistle on the fraud and other problems but were stymied by their bosses.
The series, which has spanned 15 months and included nearly 50 stories in 2009, has led to sweeping reforms and a crackdown on corrupt providers and parents.
In the wake of the series, prosecutors have filed criminal charges against several providers. A handful of government workers lost their jobs, and state regulators cut public funding to about 130 providers suspected of stealing from the program.
'Great impact but . . . not enough'
Yet regulators and lawmakers acknowledge there's more to be done in 2010.
"The changes that have been made so far have already had a great impact but are not enough," said Reggie Bicha, secretary of the state Department of Children and Families. "We will continue to look for additional ways to root out fraud and to make child care more safe."
The department must report progress on improvements to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee by June.
Among the changes in the works: an automated attendance system that would require parents to electronically log their children in and out of centers; beefed up background checks that could include fingerprint checks; and a quality rating system that could link subsidy payments to the quality of care offered.
Quality will be a key word in 2010, Bicha said.