Idaho not named in Head Start investigation

A federal undercover investigation found Head Start workers in several states manipulated family income and residency information to fraudulently enroll ineligible children in the federally-funded program designed to serve needy children.

Idaho's Head Start programs were not named in a report released Tuesday by the federal General Accountability Office, but Stan Burton, director of the Idaho Head Start Association, said in a prepared statement that the allegations are "extremely serious."

"The Idaho Head Start Association has confidence that the Office of Head Start will act swiftly and judiciously to evaluate the findings and take appropriate action as necessary," Burton stated. "In Idaho and other parts of the country, many programs receive more applications than they can accept, and we are committed to ensuring that only eligible families are enrolled."

The federal investigation was prompted by calls to GAO hotlines alleging that fraud was taking place in Texas and another state in the Midwest.

Investigators went into centers in California, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., and posed as families seeking enrollment for their children.

At one Texas center, a Head Start associate disregarded $20,000 worth of income in order to qualify the family as under-income. While reviewing income documentation, the associate said, "We see this, but we don't see this," explaining that if both parents' incomes were counted, the family would be over-income and on a wait list.

The Head Start program, overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, provides child development and school readiness services to nearly one million children each year, most from low-income families.

Eligibility guidelines require that a child's family fall within the federal poverty guidelines, or that the child be in foster care or homeless.

Beth Ann Fuller, director of the northern Idaho Head Start program, said they are further mandated to have 10 percent of their slots filled by children with disabilities.

Centers are allowed to have up to 10 percent of their slots filled by children whose families exceed the income limits, she said, but other "significant family stressors" must be present.

"Every family that applies for our program is asked for verification of income," Fuller said. "Depending on the family's situation, we'll ask them for W-2s, 12 months' worth of pay stubs, or a 12-month employment verification from the employer."

For homeless children, Fuller said they have to receive verification from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Nationally, the Head Start program received $7.2 billion in regular appropriations from Congress this year, and another $2.1 billion in federal stimulus funding to be spent over two years.

In a letter sent Monday to U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, stated her agency will begin making unannounced visits to Head Start Centers to ensure compliance with rules and regulations.

At the North Idaho Head Start centers, Fuller said they encourage visits and monitoring.

The GAO report indicates that the fraudulent activities were encouraged by supervisors to fill slots in under-subscribed centers.

"With the combination of us having huge waiting lists and never having any open slots, we just don't have those types of problems," Fuller said.

The North Idaho agency serves 294 children in seven centers throughout the five northern counties.

There are at least three children waiting for each of those slots, Fuller said.