Atlas Puked....
Posted on 01/28/2009 7:03:33 PM PST by lowbridge
The two-story house on 17th St. looks typical of the working-class homes on Racine's west side. Three bedrooms, one bath. Assessed by the city at $122,000.
Yet inside, a young woman has tapped into a home-based money-making operation that netted her and her three sisters more than half a million in taxpayer dollars since 2006.
And they did it with the blessing of the state.
All four had been in-home child-care providers. Collectively they have 17 children. For years, the government has paid them to stay home and care for each other's children.
Nothing illegal about it under the rules of Wisconsin Shares, the decade-old child-care assistance program designed alongside Wisconsin's welfare-to-work program.
"It's a loophole," said Laurice Lincoln, administrative coordinator for child care with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services. "Do we have concerns about it? Yes, it can be a problem. But if it's allowed, it's allowed. We really can't dispute it."
The Journal Sentinel spent four months investigating the $340 million taxpayer-supported program and uncovered an array of costly problems - including fraud. But the investigation also revealed a system rife with lax regulations that have paved the way for abuse by parents and providers.
Consider:
• Sisters or other relatives can stay home, swap kids and receive taxpayer dollars. The four Racine sisters took in as much as $540,000 in taxpayer dollars in less than three years, mostly to watch each other's kids.
• Rules allow parents to be employed by child-care providers and enroll their children at the same place. At some centers, children of employees make up the majority of kids in day care. In one Milwaukee location, an employer and parents are accused of teaming up to bilk the system out of more than $360,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
I love government.
Just think of how much creative energy will be expended by folks trying to cash in on the stimulus bill boondoggle....
Why the hell not?
We’re bailing out everybody else and his dog.
Go for it!
The govt pays people to babysit? What’s the hourly rate?
The correct model to follow is the farm subsidy model. The government should pay me for NOT watching anybody’s kids.
damn im a realtor i think i just found my new proffesion! sign me up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reparations, baby.
Between the 4 sisters they have 17 children.....
They've been doing this for 3 years. 3000 hours.
540 thousand dollars divided by 3000 hours, that comes to 180 dollars an hour. And assuming it was 8 hours a day (6000 hours), then that comes to 90 dollars an hour.
Atlas Puked....
That seems a bit extravagant, unless the baby is an adult with naughty ideas.
Started in 2006, so two years.
$5.51 per hour for 17 children for 40 hours a week for 3 years which totalled $540,000. But I’m no math genius.
Oops, forgot, per child.
Maybe these voters better think about it. This is a much better deal than they would be getting in a stimulus package.
Easy money...Thorazine and Play Station 2’s make it easy money!!!
The question is who in the program told these people how to do this!! Because they are two stupid to figure it out on their own!!
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