For Immediate Release
September 11, 2009
Contact: Erika Monroe-Kane, Department of Children and Families, 608-266-9000
Department of Children and Families Announces Creation of Child Care Anti-Fraud Task Force
Reggie Bicha, Secretary of the Department of Children and Families and John Chisholm, Milwaukee District Attorney, announced today the formation of a task force to investigate and prosecute child care fraud in the Wisconsin Shares program.
The Child Care Anti-Fraud task force will be a partnership of the Department of Children and Families, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department, and the Division of Criminal Investigation of the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Department of Children and Families Deputy Secretary Henry Wilde and Assistant District Attorney David Feiss will lead the task force.
"I asked District Attorney Chisholm to join me in pulling together this powerful team to hold accountable those criminals stealing from hard-working taxpayers," stated Reggie Bicha, Secretary of the Department of Children and Families. "This task force will bring criminals defrauding the Shares program to justice. If you cheat the Shares program, we will put you out of business."
The formation of the task force is the next step of the Department and will compliment the other efforts the Department already has underway to combat fraud. DCF is launching a fraud detection and prevention unit which will investigate and stop payments to those committing fraud in the Wisconsin Shares system. In addition, the Department worked with the legislature to make it possible to suspend Shares payments quickly when fraud is suspected. To report suspicions of fraud, call the DCF child care fraud hotline at (877) 302-FRAUD or visit the DCF Web site at www.dcf.wisconsin.gov to submit tips to our fraud detection and prevention unit.
ABOUT DCF
DCF is the first Cabinet-level agency solely committed to promoting the social and economic well-being of Wisconsin's children and families. The creation of DCF brought together programs from the Department of Health and Family Services and the Department of Workforce Development. For more information, please visit
www.dcf.wisconsin.gov.
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