DHS details CCAP fraud-detection work, seeks funds for electronic attendance and investigators

Acting Department of Human Services Commissioner Shereen Gandhi told the Minnesota House Committee on Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight that DHS uses licensing inspections, a childcare audits and investigations unit and data analytics to prevent, detect and investigate fraud in early‑learning programs, and that the governor’s 2025 package seeks funding for additional investigators and a statewide electronic attendance system.

“Fraud in these programs is unacceptable. It is not a victimless crime,” Gandhi said, summarizing the agency’s approach to program integrity in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and the Great Start compensation support payment program.

The committee heard that Minnesota has roughly 1,800 licensed child‑care centers and about 5,800 licensed family child‑care providers; about 3,600 providers are enrolled in CCAP. DHS officials told the panel that the childcare audits and investigations unit has recovered $2,400,000 since 2020, has referred an average of about five cases a year to law enforcement since 2021, and has stopped payments to dozens of providers.

Why it matters

Lawmakers pressed DHS on the scale of recoveries relative to program size. Committee members cited agency estimates that CCAP spending has ranged “from over $200,000,000 to over $300,000,000 a year” (state and federal shares combined); some members described the roughly $600,000 a year in recoveries as “a drop in the bucket.” Representative Rehrig said the recovery figure “just seems like an absolute drop in the bucket,” and asked for more detail on how recoveries were calculated and enforced.

How DHS investigates and acts

Gandhi and Deputy Inspector…