{"id":2529170,"date":"2026-01-03T15:24:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flabbergasted-wa-daycare-owner-frustrated-over-alleged-somali-fraud\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:28:26","slug":"flabbergasted-wa-daycare-owner-frustrated-over-alleged-somali-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flabbergasted-wa-daycare-owner-frustrated-over-alleged-somali-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Flabbergasted\u2019 WA daycare owner frustrated over alleged Somali fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflabbergasted-wa-daycare-owner-frustrated-over-alleged-somali-fraud%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2529170&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Washington state daycare owner expressed frustration after reports of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-becomes-first-un-country-to-recognize-somaliland\/\" title=\"Israel becomes first UN country to recognize Somaliland\">alleged fraud tied<\/a> to Somali-run home daycares, saying industry operators are &#8220;flabbergasted&#8221; that some providers appear to be receiving much larger public subsidies then expected. A Center Square visit to several Somali-run homes in Federal Way found only one with children present; others were unresponsive, confrontational, or said thay had no enrolled children. David McMullan,who runs two centers and a preschool and chairs the pierce County Republicans,said compliance rules and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/twenty-two-states-just-increased-their-minimum-wage-heres-what-to-know\/\" title=\"22 states have raised their .... Here&#039;s what you need to know\">recent minimum wage increase<\/a> to $17.13\/hr squeeze legitimate providers, and he questioned how small home providers could be getting &#8220;tens of thousands&#8221; monthly when per-child payments are roughly $1,500-$1,600. The department of Children, Youth &#038; Families (DCYF) said it investigates fraud, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >conducts unannounced site visits<\/a> at least annually, and ran about 1,440 provider payment audits in 2024; it did not answer questions about unusually large payouts.State officials, including Attorney General Nick Brown, urged providers to report harassment from journalists door-knocking at facilities; the Justice Department&#8217;s Office for Civil Rights warned Brown about potential federal action if reporting restrictions unlawfully chilled free speech.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">&lsquo;Flabbergasted&rsquo; WA daycare owner frustrated over alleged Somali fraud in industry<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2447033\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; As more is revealed about the potential daycare <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fraud\/\">fraud<\/a> within the Somali community in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington\/\">Washington<\/a> state and the Department of Children, Youth &amp; Families scrambles to respond, one large <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/child-care\/\">daycare<\/a> provider is sharing his frustrations with The Center Square.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, The Center Square&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_8720e011-db79-480d-bd3d-f71c1f029671.html\">visited several<\/a>&nbsp;Somali-run home daycares in Federal Way, but found only one home with a few children inside. Others did not answer knocks on the front door, grew confrontational &ndash; calling the police, or conceded they don&rsquo;t currently have children enrolled.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/4399846\/fbi-foils-north-carolina-new-years-eve-attack-plot-inspired-by-isis\/\">FBI foils North Carolina New Year&#8217;s Eve attack plot inspired by ISIS<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/4399691\/dewine-defends-fraud-safeguards-ohio-child-care\/\">DeWine defends fraud safeguards at Ohio child care facilities<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4399568\/judge-jan-6-pipe-bomb-suspect-remain-detained-before-trial\/\">Federal judge orders Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect to remain detained ahead of trial<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;Anyone who&rsquo;s in the&nbsp;industry is, like, flabbergasted,&rdquo; said daycare owner David McMullan, who also chairs the Pierce County Republicans. &ldquo;How are they getting that money and we&rsquo;re not?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>McMullan said he and his wife got into the daycare business a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have Little Patriots Academy. We have two currently functioning&nbsp;daycare centers. We also have a preschool called Buttons and Bows that&rsquo;s in Puyallup. We&rsquo;ve spent a lot of time with DCYF and all the different regulations that&nbsp;make it very difficult to actually operate a daycare center,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>McMullan said that he had no issues with DCYF treatment per se.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re quite responsive and good to work with. So, I don&rsquo;t have anything to say about the&nbsp;department itself,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But&nbsp;we have to jump through a lot of hoops just to get the things we need to function&nbsp;and stay profitable, especially when they&rsquo;re not increasing our subsidies, but&nbsp;demanding that we pay our teachers more.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He noted the Jan. 1 increase in the minimum wage to $17.13 an hour is another hit to their bottom line.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to turn away families that&nbsp;have to be on subsidies because they need it,&rdquo; McMullan said. &ldquo;I could fill up my daycares and say no subsidies,&nbsp;but then there [are] a lot of people [who] are trying to get their kids in daycare so they can work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s done properly, it helps families out. So, I&rsquo;m never going to&nbsp;be one of those people [who] says cut all subsidies.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>McMullan has no issues with the Somali community, but indicated he was shocked to hear about the massive subsidies some facilities are receiving, according to state fiscal websites.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The bottom line is per head, per child, it&rsquo;s about $1,500, $1,600 tops, so how are they getting that much?&rdquo; McMullan asked.<\/p>\n<p>For small home daycare centers with only a handful of children, monthly payouts appear to show that many providers receive tens of thousands of dollars, according to&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/fiscal.wa.gov\/\">fiscal.wa.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, I want to see which program gets them that much money per head because I want to get involved in&nbsp;it,&rdquo; McMullan said.<\/p>\n<p>DCYF, which oversees taxpayer subsidies for licensed daycares, tells The Center Square that it investigates all reports of alleged fraud.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We take fraud seriously,&rdquo; DCYF Director of External Communications Nancy Gutierrez emailed The Center Square. &ldquo;Washington state utilizes a variety of measures to minimize fraud. For example, DCYF conducts unannounced site visits at every licensed childcare provider at least once per year.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>She told The Center Square that DCYF also conducts random audits to confirm the accuracy of payments made to providers.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In 2024, the Child Care Subsidy Program Quality Assurance unit conducted approximately 1,440 audits<em>&nbsp;<\/em>of child care provider payments,&rdquo; Gutierrez said. &ldquo;This information is all public, and you can read the most recent report here:&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/dcyf.wa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/pdf\/reports\/child-care-subsidy-program-overpayment-2025.pdf\">Child Care Subsidy Program Overpayment Report<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Gutierrez did not respond to a request for an interview with DCYF Secretary Tana Senn or to questions about the extremely large monthly payouts to small home daycare providers.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/4400022\/youtuber-scooped-legacy-media-tim-walz-somali-fraud-scandal\/\">JOE CONCHA: A YOUTUBER SCOOPED LEGACY MEDIA IN EXPOSING WALZ&rsquo;S SOMALI FRAUD SCANDAL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, both DCYF and state Attorney General Nick Brown this week put out warnings to daycare providers to report any &ldquo;harassment&rdquo; from journalists or citizen reporters who have been door-knocking on many Somali-run child care facilities this week.<\/p>\n<p>In response, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights Director Harmeet Dhillon&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AAGDhillon\/status\/2006382864565162029?s=20\">threatened Brown<\/a>&nbsp;with potential federal action if his office&rsquo;s actions were found to unconstitutionally chill the free speech rights of journalists.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WA daycare owner outraged by alleged Somali fraud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2869,"featured_media":2529171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ap21299682552501.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[70063,57689,3976,62494,70062],"class_list":["post-2529170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-alleged-fraud","tag-daycare","tag-investigation","tag-somali-community","tag-western-australia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ap21299682552501.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2529170"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529174,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529170\/revisions\/2529174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2529170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2529170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2529170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}