(The Center Square) – A former top federal child protection official in Washington told the state Attorney General’s office that there is widespread fraud in child care programs a day after AG Nick Brown put out a press release criticizing individuals investigating daycares that receive significant taxpayer money, an email obtained by The Center Square shows.
“Fraud is common in programs like child care,” Paul Noski wrote a Dec. 31, email to Washington State Assistant Attorney General Spencer Coates. Noski was the Seattle regional manager for the Office of Child Care, a federal agency under the Administration for Children and Families’ that experienced significant layoffs last year. He is no longer with the agency and could not be reached for comment.
Noski also wrote that child care fraud is “just not committed by a certain population,” referring to allegations made that same month of mass fraud by Somalian home-based day care providers in Washington state.
“It has been my experience that sometimes there are language barriers around understanding the complex billing policies and processes,” he wrote.
The email concerned Washington Attorney General Brown’s Dec. 30 press release statement that said “my office has received outreach from members of the Somali community after reports of home-based daycare providers being harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking. Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening, or harassing them isn’t an investigation. Neither is filming minors who may be in the home.”
Noski wrote that the OCC layoffs make it more difficult for the federal agency to catch fraud occurring in the program.
“Our role as federal employees was to provide both oversight and technical assistance,” he wrote. “We did that through partnership.”
In the 2025 fiscal year, Department of Children, Youth, and Families spent roughly $369 million in federal funding, nearly $300 million in Child Care and Development Fund program funds on monthly child care subsidy payments to providers.
Fraud related to child care programs in Washington are invested by DCYF’s Office of Fraud and Accountability, while criminal cases are pursued by county prosecutors. The WA AGO has no direct role in investigations or prosecutions of child care fraud.
The Washington State Auditor’s Office recently released an audit of DCYF, concluding that “adequate internal controls over and did not comply with requirements to ensure payments to child care providers for the Child Care and Development Fund program were allowable and properly supported.”
The Center Square reached out to Noski requesting an interview to discuss the email, but did not receive a response. The Center Square also called the Administration for Children and Families’ Region 10’s office, but was directed to a separate number assigned to Noski that went to voicemail.
The Center Square also reached out to the Washington Association of County Prosecutors requesting an interview regarding prosecutions of child care fraud, but did not receive a response. DCYF also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
