The Real Story behind the Child-Care Scandal

 A series of articles by the Journal Sentinel on fraud in the Wisconsin State subsidized Child-Care Program has resulted in a public outcry, investigations by officials, hearings in the legislature, and a flurry of “reform” legislation by Governor Doyle and various Legislators.

Officially known as the Wisconsin Shares Program, payments are made to various types of Child-Care facilities and arrangements, including Licensed Child-Care facilities, Licensed Family Child-Care Home, and Certified Family Child Care Home. 

In addition to the Wisconsin Shares Program, there are other Child-Care subsidies, such as the Caretaker Supplement cash benefit, for parents on SSI with minor children.

As noted by the Journal Sentinel reports, some of the controversial aspects of the Shares Program were the hiring of parents whose children were enrolled at a facility, in essence, paying the parent to watch their own kid. Also a payment system that was based upon Enrollment, and Not Attendance!

What the Journal Sentinel did not disclose in their articles is that None of this was a Secret! And that the W-2 Reforms to the old AFDC Welfare Program, were mostly responsible for the amazing growth of the Shares Program.

In the past 10 years, the Shares Program TRIPLED in size to approx $400 Million per year!

If the Officials and Politicians in Madison did not realize the correlation between the huge decline in Welfare Cases after W-2 (60% decline) and the astronomical increase in the Shares Program (along with other programs I will not address in this posting) – then those Officials and Politicians are either Fools or Frauds.

However, the Folks living in Poverty are definitely NOT Fools.

 Per the UWM Center for Economic Development --- “In Milwaukee's inner city, joblessness is endemic. 56.4 percent of working age males in the city's "Enterprise Community" - census tracts designated as the "inner city" by City Hall-were either unemployed or not in the labor force. “

Just HOW do the Officials and Politicians think those people survive? It is obvious that there have to be ways in which they can maintain at least a bare subsistence.

Of course, there is a “cash” economy that helps. Most of it is benign, like the housekeepers, handymen, gardeners, etc. that affluent folks hire for cash jobs … and then there is the tragic cash economy of drugs, which is a topic unto itself.

Until now, the Officials and Politicians were having the best of both worlds.

On the one hand, they claimed that they were cutting off the Welfare Queens driving their Cadillacs, and they were going to make them Work to earn their Keep (Tommy Thompson’s W2). 

While on the other hand, they knew that as there were not enough sustaining jobs even if everyone could work (and don’t forget that the FED’s policies call for 6% unemployment or they raise interest rates) there had to be assistance of some kind. 

And so they turned a blind eye to the Shares fraud (among other things), until the Journal Sentinel decided to make an issue of it.

Even the drug dealing at many of the Child-Care providers places was not unknown. High ranking officials in the Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office were informed of it, and most of law enforcement was aware of it.

For the moment the various reforms from the governor, officials and politicians will be pursued, and like other issues du jour, the general public will forget all about it.

In the meantime, Racism, Lack of Jobs, Suburban Flight, Outsourcing of Labor, and Offshoring of well paying manufacturing jobs will continue the present plight of the Inner City Residents.

But remember that just because some people are Poor --- doesn’t mean they are Stupid! 

Only until we address the Real Problems and Poverty, will we have Real Solutions.

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