Criminals Profit From Iowa Daycare System
By Marc Chase
Originally published in the Quad-City Times, February 10, 2002
As a convicted felon, Anissa Quinn lost her right to vote. Her crack dealing conviction bars her from owning firearms.
But the Iowa Department of Human Services, or DHS, paid her $21,443 last year to provide daycare for children of families on welfare.
A Quad-City Times investigation found the names of Quinn—and 18 other people who have been convicted of crimes—on a DHS list of Scott County providers that parents can use to find daycare for their children.
Two other women convicted of endangering the lives of their own children remained on that list until mid-January, even though DHS caseworkers determined the women had abused the children.
Between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001, DHS funneled $91,323.43 in taxpayer money to 11 Scott County daycare providers who have criminal convictions, the Times investigation found.
The DHS is required by law to perform criminal background checks of all daycare providers before they can become registered with the state. DHS workers then decide whether any offenses discovered in the checks should bar would-be daycare providers from registration.
At least four of the names on the Scott County list have been removed since the Times inquiry. DHS officials say many of the remaining providers with criminal convictions will likely be removed after the cases are reviewed more thoroughly.
DHS Director Jessie Rasmussen acknowledged there are problems in the system the agency uses to perform background checks on home daycare providers.
"We are now aware of the problems, and we're asking ourselves how this happened," she said. "Then we need to determine what to do so it won't happen again."
Michele Mattox, a child-welfare worker with the Scott County DHS office, says the system usually works. Since July 2000, 113 applicants from within the county have been denied registration based on initial child-abuse registry checks or criminal background reviews, she said.
Within that same period, the Scott County DHS office has revoked the registration of 32 other providers because of criminal convictions, founded abuse cases or health and safety violations, she said.
But DHS officials concede that under the current system of checking and evaluating providers' records, people convicted of crimes can care for children in Scott and other counties throughout the state without being detected by the agency.
Under Iowa law, daycare providers caring for six or more children at a time are required to register with the DHS.
Registered providers can be paid by the state for watching children of welfare families. Their homes also are subject to random health and safety checks by DHS caseworkers.
The Iowa Legislature is considering a bill that would expand the number of registered providers by requiring people caring for four or more children to register with the state. But the Times investigation shows the agency cannot keep up with the caseload it has now.
A five-month review of DHS files and court records uncovered 19 cases in which providers had criminal convictions of which the agency was unaware, including two child-endangerment convictions, two assault convictions and one case of a provider who had pleaded guilty to a drug delivery charge.
A flawed system
That provider, Quinn, 29, passed a random health and safety check of her home Dec. 17, 1996, DHS records show. But no one noticed her conviction on a felony crack-dealing charge 15 weeks earlier.
Under current DHS policy, Quinn could have continued watching children for five years before the agency might have detected her conviction. DHS workers did not learn of the conviction until the Times inquired about the case in January.
On Feb. 19, 1996, Davenport police vice officers raided Quinn's home and daycare facility, then located at 3831 Bridge Ave. Officers seized about 14 street doses of crack cocaine found in Quinn's purse and 13 doses from her kitchen cabinet, Scott County District Court records state.
Quinn pleaded guilty to the charge Sept. 4, 1996, and was sentenced to a 10-year suspended prison sentence, placed on two years of probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
The conviction should have taken Quinn out of the childcare business, Mattox said. But like the 18 other cases of providers with criminal convictions, Quinn's case "fell through the cracks."
Quinn said she has put the offense behind her and poses no danger to the children she watches. Three parents, who have a total of nine children under Quinn's care, defended the woman, saying they are not concerned about her conviction.
"I'm always up front with them before they bring their kids here," Quinn said." I tell them I've had some trouble, and I tell them I don't hang with those people anymore. "
Quinn, who now watches children at 809 Washington St., Davenport, claims the drugs belonged to some people who had visited her home while she was sleeping. She could not explain how a portion of the crack ended up in her purse.
Another woman registered to care for up to six children encouraged her 14-year-old daughter to fight a 12-year-old girl with whom the teen had been arguing at school, police reports allege.
The woman's name is not being published to protect the identity of the children involved.
On April 30, 2000, the woman, then 32, drove her daughter through their west Davenport neighborhood until they found the younger girl. The provider watched as her daughter fought with the other girl and bit the victim's finger. The 12-year-old required medical treatment.
The provider pleaded guilty to assault in the case. She denies having encouraged her daughter to fight the other girl and says she provides safe daycare for children.
Cases overlooked
In at least two other cases, one arm of the Scott County DHS office did not know what the other was doing.
The cases both involve providers whose daycare registration had been terminated by the DHS after unrelated child-abuse investigations in April. But their names remained on a list provided to parents and daycare referral services until mid-January, when the Times inquired about the cases.
In one case, a 42-year-old daycare provider whipped her 8-year-old foster daughter with a leather strap for misbehaving. The lashing left welts and bruises on the girl's backside, Davenport police reports state.
The state paid that provider $378 last year to watch children of needy families.
DHS caseworkers determined the woman had abused the girl. They placed the provider's name on the agency's child abuse registry on April 17, Mattox said. The woman also pleaded guilty to child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor, and was sentenced to one year of probation, court records show.
Also, DHS records show the provider's daycare registration was terminated June 28. But her name, address and telephone number remained on the provider list for nearly seven months as someone eligible to care for up to six children.
In another case, a 29-year-old daycare provider struck her 7-year-old son with a leather belt April 9 for fighting with his sister and refusing to do household chores, police reports allege. During an investigation, police found a laceration on the boy's cheek and welts on his thigh.
The woman, who was paid $4,062 last year to watch children of low-income families, pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was fined $500, court records show.
DHS caseworkers determined the boy had been abused and placed the name of the provider on the child-abuse registry April 10. The provider remained listed as someone eligible to watch up to eight children until mid-January.
Pat Doyle, who maintains the list of registered providers for the Scott County DHS office, said the names should have been taken off after the offic's own caseworkers found evidence of abuse.
"They were simply overlooked," she said. "They are no longer listed."
Keeping up
Doyle and Mattox both work in the Scott County DHS office, reviewing criminal background checks made by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and determining whether applicants can become registered with the state.
It can be difficult to keep up with the 439 registered providers on the county list, some of whom commit crimes after they become registered, Mattox said.
DHS policy calls for background checks of providers to be redone every five years, she said. A shortage of resources means those checks often do not happen on time, she added.
"When a parent contacts me for a referral, I keep a list handy of providers who I know are clean,"she said. "Otherwise, there could be somebody on the full list who I wouldn't place roadkill with."
Officials in the DHS Des Moines office concede there are holes in the law and in DHS policy through which criminals can become registered providers and even be paid for watching children of families on public aid.
They also say that the 19 providers whose convictions were discovered in the Times investigation account for only 4.3 percent of the 439 people registered to watch children at their Scott County homes.
"I would point out that 95 percent of the checks in Scott County appear to be appropriate and clean," said Jody Caswell, who works in the DHS Des Moines headquarters as the program manager for childcare homes.
But without legislative action, a change in Iowa laws that govern registration of childcare providers or more resources, agency leaders do not see the problems getting better anytime soon.
