- A public records release reveals systemic billing fraud, safety violations and lax oversight at multiple Minneapolis-area daycare centers.
- State investigators used video surveillance to prove facilities billed for children who were not present and falsified attendance records.
- One center was disqualified from a state aid program in 2022 but continued to accrue new violations and overpayment demands through 2025.
- Records show a pattern of repeat offenses, including children left unsupervised and persistent failures to conduct legally required staff background checks.
- The findings raise serious questions about the effectiveness of state enforcement and the safeguarding of taxpayer-funded child care assistance programs.
A pattern of neglect and fraud
A cache of recently released state documents paints a disturbing picture of chronic mismanagement, fraudulent billing and safety lapses at several Minneapolis-area daycare centers, calling into question the efficacy of Minnesota’s oversight of taxpayer-funded child care programs. The 458 pages of records, obtained by Judicial Watch through a public records request, detail investigations by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) into facilities participating in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). The findings reveal a pattern of facilities submitting false attendance records, violating licensing rules repeatedly and endangering children through inadequate supervision, even after being penalized by the state.
Surveillance exposes phantom billing
The state’s investigations employed direct surveillance to uncover fraud. At the Minnesota Child Care Center, a DHS review in late 2018 found numerous discrepancies between video footage and attendance records. In multiple 15-minute intervals, billing records claimed children had arrived when no children were observed on video entering the building. An audit of six billing cycles from late 2018 into early 2019 found that on 361 of 4,711 dates examined, attendance records failed to meet basic recordkeeping standards, with missing sign-in or sign-out times or entire records absent. Based on this and improper holiday billing, DHS determined the center had been overpaid $24,480.38.
A cycle of repeat offenses and inadequate consequences
Despite enforcement actions, many facilities continued to violate regulations. The Minnesota Child Care Center was issued a correction order in August 2019 for staff qualification deficiencies, which the state noted was a repeat violation from 2017. After being disqualified from the CCAP program in August 2022 for intentionally submitting false information, the center continued to rack up penalties. It was fined in 2023 and 2024 for multiple background study violations, where staff were allowed to work with children without required federal fingerprint-based checks. As recently as October 2024, the center was cited for leaving aides alone to supervise infants and school-age children without a qualified teacher present—another repeat violation.
- Minnesota Child Care Center: Disqualified from CCAP in 2022; ordered to repay over $42,879 in overpayments and grants between 2022-2025; fined multiple times for background study violations.
- Nuna Child Care Center: Disqualified in 2022; ordered to repay $72,529.85; cited in 2024 for multiple unsupervised-child incidents in a single inspection.
- Quality Learning Center: Ordered to repay $69,364.55 in 2020; placed on a conditional license in 2022 after an inspection found 27 violations.
Safety lapses persist amid financial scandals
The records underscore that financial fraud was often accompanied by direct threats to child safety. At Nuna Childcare Center, a December 2024 correction order documented three separate instances of unsupervised children observed within a 36-minute afternoon visit, including a teacher who left three children alone in a classroom. ABC Learning Center, hit with a $76,000 grant overpayment notice in 2024, was cited in November 2025 for leaving seven school-aged children unsupervised. Other common violations included failure to maintain staff-to-child ratios, unsafe cribs and lack of required staff training.
A legacy of oversight failures
This latest documentation of systemic problems within Minnesota’s child care system echoes broader, ongoing concerns about fraud and accountability in state programs. It follows the massive “Feeding Our Future” scandal, which involved the theft of over $250 million from federal child nutrition programs and resulted in numerous federal indictments. The newly revealed daycare records suggest that weaknesses in oversight and enforcement persist, allowing facilities with long histories of violations to continue operating and receiving public funds. The repeated nature of the violations, often cited as “repeat licensing violations” by state investigators, indicates that existing penalties have failed to compel compliance.
A call for restored accountability
The detailed paper trail of false billing, unsupervised children and unheeded correction orders reveals a breakdown in the fundamental contract between the state and its citizens: that taxpayer dollars will be managed responsibly and that licensed facilities will provide safe, supervised care. For parents relying on these programs and taxpayers funding them, the records raise urgent questions about the transparency and rigor of state oversight mechanisms. As Minnesota continues to grapple with the fallout from previous fraud epidemics, these documents serve as a stark reminder that without robust, proactive enforcement and meaningful consequences, history is doomed to repeat itself, putting both children and public trust at risk.
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