Child Care Subsidies – Wisconsin

Day cares, parents use kids for profit, By Raquel Rutledge, February 7, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Thousands of children from low-income families in Wisconsin are being kept out of kindergarten every year, and the state’s subsidized child-care program is a driving factor, turning kids into valuable commodities, an investigation by the Journal Sentinel has found. The $350 million Wisconsin Shares program lets parents keep their 4-, 5- and even some 6-year-olds in day care centers all day – at taxpayer expense – rather than enroll them in accredited kindergarten programs. In some cases, unscrupulous parents are participating in an easy scam. They sign up their children with friends or relatives who provide child care. The state then pays the providers roughly $200 a week, and providers give parents a kickback. In other cases, child-care providers offer free gas, free rent, vacation getaways, $1,000 rebates and other incentives to encourage parents to enroll their children in day care rather than school…”