Bill to ensure caregivers are not criminals fails

Taxpayer dollars - paid as child care subsidies - have been going to Utahns convicted of operating a methamphetamine lab, armed robberies, aggravated assault and even child neglect.

But a plea for legislation that would block payments to family, friend and neighbor caregivers without first checking to see if they have criminal histories fell flat on Wednesday.

Such crimes, under Utah law, disqualify providers from becoming licensed. But the state doesn't regulate grandma, your friend or your neighbor - who make up the 3,000 informal providers who get $1.6 million in subsidies annually to care for low-income children.

These providers baby-sit 7,000, or 43 percent, of the 15,000 Utah children enrolled for subsidies on any given month.

"Do we know who these folk are? Are they really looking after the children?" asked Lynette Rasmussen at a legislative hearing on Wednesday.

As director of the Office of Child Care, Rasmussen sought preliminary approval of a bill that would authorize her staff to run criminal screens on unregulated, subsidized caregivers. At least 39 other states require similar criminal screens.

Currently, such providers self-declare they are crime-free before the state will cut them a check, ranging from $193 to $340 a month per child.

But some lie, said Rasmussen. 

A recent internal audit found that over the past three to four years, $93,000 in subsidies have been fraudulently awarded to parents who never used the money for child care.

Even more disturbing, a random sample taken in September of 40 family, friend and neighbor care providers found eight, or 25 percent, had serious criminal backgrounds - weapons, assault and drug charges, said Rasmussen.

All but one caregiver, who claimed to be an uncle, were grandmothers, said Rasmussen who suspects the problem is more widespread than her limited probe suggests.

Full text available at the Salt Lake Tribune