It’s not just a federal problem. Michigan lawmakers have been running an investigation into what appears to be a fraudulent daycare center in Clinton Township; this supposed daycare center has taken over a million in Michigan state funds, and there appear to be no kids there on any given day.
Michigan lawmakers are investigating a childcare provider that received more than $1.1 million in taxpayer-funded childcare reimbursements despite allegations that it does not appear to operate at its listed address.
The investigation centers on 1st Premier Learning Academy & Daycare in Clinton Township and was launched by the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on State & Local Public Assistance Programs.
According to an investigative report, the facility received $1,121,641 in Child Development & Care (CDC) Program reimbursements between fiscal years 2023 and 2026, yet committee staff said repeated site visits found no evidence that children were being cared for at the advertised location.
That has a familiar ring to it, doesn’t it? Hospices with no patients, daycare centers with no kids, social work agencies with no clients. It’s all becoming very tiresome – but the first step towards busting a potential fraud is documenting what’s going on, and what isn’t.
What isn’t going on appears to be any actual child care.
One Michigan lawmaker took it on himself to look into this.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jason Woolford conducted his own visit on June 15. According to the report, no one answered the front door despite repeated knocking.
Investigators said Woolford found an outdoor play area consisting of a fenced-in asphalt lot with grass growing through the pavement, an old playhouse pushed against the building and chairs stacked outside filled with rainwater.
Now, due process applies, of course, but that sure looks like a video of an empty building, one that’s been empty for some time. Kids’ playgrounds that have actual kids playing on them day in and day out don’t have grass growing up through the cracks in the pavement. Nor do chairs generally get a chance to fill up with rainwater.
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Rep. Woolford found more:
The report also said a rear door was unlocked, but no one responded after Woolford called inside.
Employees at a neighboring café told Woolford they had never seen children enter the facility.
That, too, has a familiar ring to it.
There’s one thing that all these fraud (and alleged fraud) cases have in common: Generous government funding. For too long, these kinds of enterprises have been able to turn the tap for federal and state funding with little in the way of oversight, leading to sometimes billions in fraud. That’s billions of taxpayer dollars that were intended to help working families afford daycare for their kids, to help people have the healthcare they need, and so on; we can debate the appropriate levels of government to be handling these functions, but they are here now, and they appear to be subject to rip-offs at all levels.
It’s not yet clear what all is going on in Clinton Township, Michigan, with this suspiciously empty day care. But some Michigan lawmakers now have the bit in their teeth, and that, honestly, is what it’s going to take to fix this mess – these people and more like them.
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