Minnesota officials have until next week to provide the Trump administration with information about providers and parents who receive federal child care funds or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding, state officials said Friday.
In an email sent Friday to child care providers shared with The Associated Press by multiple providers, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said it has until Jan. 9 to provide a set of supporting data on recipients. The Trump administration's announcement earlier this week that it would freeze child care in Minnesota and other states came after a series of fraud schemes in Minnesota child care centers, many of which are run by residents of Somalia. The move came after an influential right-wing influencer said there had been widespread abuse.
The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota each year, federal officials said.
The email directed providers and families who rely on the frozen federal child care program to continue to comply with the program's “licensing and certification requirements and practices as normal.” It does not say that the recipients themselves must take any action or provide any information.
“We acknowledge the concern and questions this has raised,” the email said. “We found out about the funds freeze at the same time as everyone else on social media.”
The state agency added that it “did not receive official communication from the federal government until late Tuesday evening,” which was after Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill published on Freeze X. All 50 states will be required to provide additional layers of review and administrative data before they receive more funding from the Child Care and Development Fund, which is designed to make child care affordable for low-income families.
Minnesota is the goal
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss allegations of fraudulent use of federal funds in Minnesota. An HHS spokesperson said the child care fraud hotline set up by the federal agency earlier this week has received more than 200 reports.
Minnesota has drawn the ire of Republicans and the Trump administration over other fraud allegations.
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Alex Adams told Fox News on Friday that his agency sent Minnesota a letter last month asking for information about child care and other welfare programs by Dec. 26, but received no response. The state did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler published On Channel X Thursday, the agency suspended the loans of 6,900 Minnesota borrowers during the COVID-19 era due to suspected fraud. Trump also targeted the state large Somali community with immigration enforcement efforts and called them “garbage.”
Minnesota Democrats say the Trump administration is playing politics and harming families and children as a result. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said in a news release Friday that inspectors conduct regular oversight of the child care program, noting that there are 55 related open investigations involving service providers.
It's unclear how this will affect recipients
Maria Snyder, director of a child care center in St. Paul and vice president of the advocacy group Minnesota Child Care Association, said providers are currently paid at least three weeks after services are provided. About 23,000 children and 12,000 families receive funding from the targeted child care program each month on average, according to state data.
“For many centers, we are already operating at a small margin,” she said. “Even in centers where 10 to 15 percent of children receive child care, that means a drop in your income.”
This could affect any child who attends a daycare where patrons receive federal funding, Snyder said.
According to an email from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families sent Friday, HHS sent a letter to Minnesota asking for data from 2022 to 2025, including identifying information about all child care recipients, a list of all providers who receive funds, the amounts they receive, and “information regarding alleged networks of fraud and oversight failures.” It is unclear whether Minnesota has the data the administration is seeking.
HHS said the five child care centers that receive funds from the Child Care or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program will be required to provide “specific documentation” such as attendance, screenings and evaluations, according to the email.
HHS said it would provide Minnesota with additional information by Jan. 5, but the state agency wrote that it was unclear what funding restrictions it faces.
“Our teams are working diligently to analyze the legal, financial and other aspects of this federal action,” the email said. “We don't know the full effect.”
Charlotte Cramon, Associated Press
