Programs to help poor need scrutiny
It’s unfortunate but undeniable, as Memphis has learned the hard way, that well-intentioned government programs designed to help the poor have to be monitored carefully to guard against unscrupulous exploitation.
It took years, for example, to derail a bad case of exploitation of the state-subsidized day care industry that wound up in a 2004 federal court trial at which testimony revealed, among other atrocities, that one operator was getting $50,000 Christmas bonuses and $437,000 in retroactive rent on her own building.
Today, the concern has switched to state-operated programs that aim to keep poor children from going hungry. A state audit, which covers a period in which Raquel Hatter served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services, has exposed more than $12 million in questionable spending last year.
DHS leadership is under fire for repeatedly failing to do its job overseeing the state’s $80 million program.
DHS officials dispute the accusations. “Due to the fact that hunger is a significant vulnerability that can be prevented, the program is designed to err on the side of feeding children and eligible adults while simultaneously maintaining a focus on program integrity,” DHS officials noted in their response to the audit. “Unfortunately the program can be vulnerable to those who have ill intent.”
But an investigation by The Tennessean newspaper has documented numerous cases of fraud and abuse involving unscrupulous subcontractors who have spent proceeds on home improvements and hotels and filed false reports claiming they have fed children at nonexistent day care centers or after school programs.
Among those caught in the snare: All About Giving, a private agency that received funds from DHS to provide food to 23 day care centers in Nashville and Knoxville, and the Memphis-based Heal Thyself Delivery Temple, where workers told investigators they falsified numerous records to show more meals were served than actually were, collecting at least $13,000 more in payments from DHS than they spent on food.
The investigation has left new DHS Commissioner Danielle Barnes with the task of fixing what appears to be an inadequate monitoring system to hold contractors accountable.
So far, there has been no indication of inside help with the scams, as has been alleged in a similar case in Arkansas. A federal court jury began hearing testimony this week against Jacqueline Mills, 41, of Helena-West Helena, and Anthony Leon Waits, 38, of England, Ark., who face a variety of charges in connection with the alleged multimillion-dollar milking of that state’s meal program for underprivileged school-age children.
According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the trial is expected to feature testimony from two Arkansas Department of Human Services employees, including Waits’ ex-wife, who have pleaded guilty to taking bribes to approve sponsors and sites that otherwise wouldn’t qualify for the program.
“This case is about greed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Bragg told jurors Monday in her opening statement.
Sadly, that is an impulse that rears its hideous head too often when administrators, preferring to err on the side of the poor people they serve, relax their guard against those who would take advantage of an altruistic taxpayer-funded program to fatten their wallets. Penalties for such behavior should be sure and swift.