Afghani parents collect kickbacks from taxpayer funded daycares in WA state: report

According to state investigative records obtained by The Center Square through a public records request to the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), some records allege that providers coordinated with parents to falsely report childcare attendance in order to obtain taxpayer subsidies. The Center Square obtained 108 pages of records involving childcare providers and subsidy investigations. The records contain allegations and do not by themselves establish criminal guilt.

One investigative report described an alleged arrangement in which parents signed children into daycare even when the children were not actually receiving care. “In some cases, children are not actually brought to care, but parents still sign them in so payments can be collected. UNNAMED PERSON reportedly gives 30% of the DSHS funds to the parents (mostly from Afghanistan) and keeps the rest. In addition, her husband runs another home childcare in their second house that [is] located where the same practice is occurring," the report stated.

The Center Square has asked DCYF for the ultimate disposition of the investigations, including whether they resulted in license revocations, repayment demands, criminal referrals or charges.

The allegations bear similarities to a childcare subsidy fraud scheme previously prosecuted in Washington.

In 2016, Hindia Yusuf, operator of Harar Home Daycare in Covington, pleaded guilty to stealing approximately $250,000 from the Working Connections Child Care program. According to the Department of Justice, Yusuf intentionally exaggerated the number of hours of childcare she provided, billed the state for periods when she was caring for no children, and forged parents' signatures on attendance logs to obtain childcare reimbursement that was never provided.

Another Washington case resulted in more than $328,000 in restitution. In 2018, Deka Hirsi was sentenced in federal court after defrauding multiple public assistance programs. Prosecutors said Hirsi claimed benefits for overnight daycare for her five children when the children were actually living at their grandparents' home and did not receive the claimed daycare services.

The newly obtained records surface after years of audits documented significant problems with Washington's ability to account for childcare subsidy payments. The Washington State Auditor's Office found that DCYF lacked sufficient records to allow auditors to verify more than $1.3 billion in federal childcare spending at the provider level between 2021 and 2024. Auditors could not verify approximately $416 million in 2024, $356 million in 2023, $268.5 million in 2022, and $293 million in 2021. The findings did not establish that the money was stolen, but meant auditors could not determine where all the money went at the provider level.

A subsequent audit identified approximately $37 million in questionable childcare payments during 2025, including $27.2 million connected to the federal Child Care Development Fund and another $9.9 million involving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Providers failed in some cases to produce attendance records, billed for services unsupported by attendance documentation, or lacked required parent signatures. DCYF had also acknowledged 1,372 overpayments totaling approximately $2 million in a single year. Questionable payments and overpayments do not necessarily constitute fraud.

The latest records are particularly significant because they describe an alleged mechanism for intentionally exploiting the subsidy system: children allegedly being signed in despite not receiving care, followed by a provider allegedly sharing part of the resulting taxpayer payment with parents.

The revelations also come days after a Post Millennial investigation by reporter Katie Daviscourt examined more than 20 Seattle-area home daycare locations that collectively received millions of dollars in taxpayer funding. At several locations, no children appeared to be present, or nobody answered the door when Daviscourt visited. Daisy Family Childcare had received nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds and was collecting approximately $70,000 per month, according to public records. Aboo Family Daycare was receiving approximately $40,000 per month, while Star Family Home Daycare was receiving roughly $30,000. TPM's investigation did not establish that those providers committed fraud.

Following Daviscourt's investigation, SEIU 925 Political and Legislative Director Erin Haick sent an email to Washington lawmakers and early-learning officials accusing Daviscourt of “harassing Somali child care providers” and participating in what Haick characterized as a “sustained, racist attack on immigrant child care providers.”

Haick also questioned the publicly available financial information used in the investigation. “She claims that providers are bringing in tens of thousands a month in public dollars, and I honestly have no idea what publicly available data she could be basing this on,” Haick wrote. Haick told lawmakers that five childcare programs included in Daviscourt's reporting were SEIU 925 members.

Daviscourt responded, “I’m not going to be intimidated by the SEIU. Knocking on doors and nicely asking if they are daycares is not ‘harassment of immigrants.’”

DCYF told The Center Square that providers convicted of fraud can be permanently excluded from Washington's Working Connections Child Care subsidy program. “We take allegations of fraud seriously. If providers are not following the rules, we hold them accountable. Providers who are convicted of a criminal charge - resulting from being paid for benefits they are not entitled to - receive a lifetime ban from participating in the Working Connections Child Care subsidy,” DCYF Director of External Communications Nancy Gutierrez said.

According to DCYF, the Department of Social and Health Services' Office of Fraud and Accountability investigates potential criminal childcare fraud involving eligibility and payments. Cases where investigators find evidence of fraud can be referred to local prosecutors, who determine whether criminal charges should be filed. Cases not accepted for prosecution can still result in overpayment collection.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown's office also encouraged people with evidence of fraud to report it. “We encourage people with claims of fraud to report them to the state. Our office has tools to address certain kinds of fraud,” Deputy Communications Director Mike Faulk told The Center Square. Faulk said DSHS, rather than the Attorney General's Office, serves as the primary investigator and enforcer for childcare fraud.

The Center Square previously visited approximately three dozen Washington daycare providers receiving substantial government subsidies and reported finding little or no apparent childcare activity at several locations. One West Seattle daycare received more than $229,000 between July 2025 and March 2026 despite residents telling reporters that no daycare operated at the address.

The newly released investigative records provide another layer to those longstanding oversight concerns by showing that state investigators had received allegations not merely of inaccurate paperwork or inadequate documentation, but of providers and parents allegedly working together to obtain taxpayer payments for childcare that was not provided.