(The Center Square) – Washington state Department of Children Youth and Families staff downplayed any fraud in the daycare subsidy system Thursday during a work session before the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.
Assistant Secretary for Licensing at DCYF Ruben Reeves said the agency repeatedly checks the 4,200 family home providers, 1800 centers and 650 licensed school-age programs with in-person and unannounced visits.
He said in cases where an inspection reveals there are no children present, they will return and after three checks, if there are still no children, “then we do take licensing action and we would close their license,” Reeves told lawmakers. “It’s very rare, and in 2025 we had about 14 of those.”
Committee Vice Chair Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Federal Way, said she has not seen evidence of fraud but the agency should monitor it.
“Because fraud is not anything anyone wants to see,” said Wilson in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square.
As reported by The Center Square and other media outlets, reporter door-knocks on several Somali run Federal Way area home daycares, found no evidence of actual daycare operations, though some of the homes received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer subsidies over a five-month period between July and November 2025.
Nicole Rose, who is the DCYF Assistant Secretary for Early Learning, and Assistant Secretary for Licensing at DCYF Ruben Reeves said last year there were more than 63,000 families eligible for Working Connections Child Care, a state subsidy program for low-income families who need childcare. About 37,000 take advantage of the program with the average subsidy $2,200 a month.
Rose said if potential fraud is suspected, that is referred to the Office of Fraud and Accountability at the Department of Social and Health Services.
“So out of 23% of providers that are audited [for any given year] the cases that are referred to the Office of Fraud and Accountability is 0.1%. And this is for calendar year 25,” said Reeves.
Despite the reassurances being offered by DCYF, Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy on Wednesday told KOMO News there are potentially “serious oversight and accountability gaps at the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) over the last four years when it comes to payments to childcare providers.”
McCarthy told KOMO the agency “lacked access to ‘provider-level data’ in the last four statewide audits.”
Oversight name controversy
On Wednesday, The Center Square asked Wilson about DCYF issues and a bill Wilson is sponsoring to change the scope of responsibilities and the name of the DCYF Oversight Board, to call it the DCYF Accountability Board.
As TCS reported, a black member of the board requested the name change, saying the word oversight was racist and insensitive.
Some individuals suggest the word oversight evokes the historical term “overseer” (referencing slavery)
Wilson said she agrees they should change the name but rejects any argument that her bill waters down the board’s directive which is to hold DCYF accountable.
As to reporters including TCS looking into the alleged daycare fraud, Wilson said any allegations about Somali run daycares are “rhetoric and really racist.”
When asked to explain why a home daycare provider would receive a quarter million dollars over five months in subsidies, Wilson said they could be receiving funds from several sources.
“There are things like complex needs funds, there are equities funds, there’s early learning facilities funds, there are many dollars,” she said.
But Wilson conceded that she had not seen the numbers.
“I would love to have you send that to me,” she said. ““If there is fraud going on, then we need to find the fraud.”
On Thursday, TCS did provide screenshots and financial details of daycares receiving large subsidies to the office of Sen. Wilson and requested further comment, which we did not receive in time for publication.
Sen. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane Valley, who is also a member of the DCYF Oversight Board has filed a bill in response to Wilson’s legislation, to rename the board the DCYF Social Club. He was trying to make the point that watering down the board’s actual oversight is the wrong direction at a time the agency is under great scrutiny with record child deaths and potential fraud.
“Dropping a bill like Christian did, I think is a waste of staff time and it’s a waste of state resources,” said Wilson. “Once I’ve been sitting on the board, he’s never asked for anything and never asked for any kind of review. And I’m more than happy to constantly and continually work with him if he’s interested in serious proposals for solutions. But a bill like this is ridiculous.”
Christian pushed back on Wilson’s criticism.
“If anyone doubts my sincerity, I wish they could have joined me this last year as I toured the juvenile justice facilities managed by DCYF,” he said. “I’ve seen for myself the overcrowding and chaos caused by the misguided policies adopted by the Legislature’s majority.
“I wince when I hear Washington spent $500 million last year to settle lawsuits against DCYF, most of it for poor supervision of children under the care of the state,” Christian added. I feel shame every time a new child death is reported, and I have to shake my head when the agency celebrates the fact that it is returning more children to parents who so often prove to be unfit.
“Sen. Wilson says her bill recognizes the fact that the DCYF Oversight Board has not been taking full advantage of its authority to scrutinize agency policies and priorities. That’s the problem, all right. But the answer isn’t to remove the board’s oversight responsibilities and its ability to request independent investigations. Instead, it needs to step up to the plate and start doing its job.”
