Cascade Party
A new path in Washington State politics.
A new path in Washington State politics.
Public Expenditures
Superstar Influencers — Babysitters as State Agents
By Krist Novoselić (January 5, 2026)
Department of Families
On December 9, the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) released a report on CHILD CARE SUBSIDY PROGRAM OVERPAYMENT.
Washington State’s Child Care Subsidy Program (CCSP) helps low and moderate income families afford child care while parents work or attend school. The program pays providers directly for authorized care and adjusts family copays based on household composition and income.
These providers are referred to in the report as (FFN) — family, friends and neighbors. This explains social media videos of influencers trolling private houses.
When I was a kid, we referred to family, friends and neighbors who watched kids for parents as babysitters. As the oldest child, I watched over my younger brother and sister when my parents were working.
At any rate, the CCSP report says state funded FFN babysitters can be loosey goosey with their reporting to the state.
Since 2019, the report shows $13.3 million in overpayments.
A substantial share of improper payments to FFN providers contain missing attendance documentation and billing errors. DCYF says these family, friends and neighbors lack business systems and are less likely to use digital attendance tools, making contemporaneous documentation sparse.
A FFN receives overpayment when they do not report their income accurately at application or reapplication. Examples of unreported income include informal child support agreements or additional employment; or failing to report employment to the Employment Security Department and receiving unemployment compensation benefits while also earning wages.
Payments to FFN’s hinge on provider‑maintained attendance records, signed logs or electronic check‑ins. When those records are missing, ambiguous or produced retroactively, the report says improper payments are likely.
It’s nice how our state pays moms and others to babysit in their relational orbits. This public benefit is catching on — even before the issue in Minnesota went viral. The DCYF say rapid program growth has increased transaction volume and strains audit capacity, raising the probability that errors or fraud slip through.
It’s a gold rush for state-funded babysitting, which is an equal opportunity.
The Child Care Subsidy Program appears to dovetail into the dynamics within immigrant communities. These folks are close-knit through their native language, customs and a shared experience of navigating an unfamiliar American society. The news could spread quickly among this insular population how CCSP is easy money for something which groups of mothers are already doing.
Why not sign up?
👍Superstar Influencers👎
Nick Shirley’s coverage of the Minneapolis daycare centers is a sensation and the influencer crowd want their piece of the action.
There are now social media climbers, cell phones in hand, starting their own child care contractor investigations in hope of striking the Likes, Clicks and Follows which are social media gold.
This is the new media whether you -like- it or not.
Copycats are not the issue — it’s that some are repeating references disparaging a certain immigrant community. The influencers are promoting a group as synonymous with corruption. This reference is not reporting, it's more like gossip, which can be hurtful.
The influencers should keep targeting scammers and not ethnic communities.
Identity politics are a smokescreen obscuring loose public money. The distraction is useful to status quo political leaders and insiders who are either; not paying attention, just don’t care or see value in funding political patronage tracts.
Honesty
The idealism of social democracy is surging. Washington’s FFN childcare may radiate the warmth of collectivism. It's a soft and cuddly notion until you consider the cold hard fact of human self interest. Babysitters fudging their logs for more state money exemplifies the frigidity of rugged individualism.
Notice I’m pulling key imagery from newly-minted NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration. Social democracy praxis relies on honesty and transparency. Anything less is grift, veiled as ideology.
If working families need state help with babysitting, that’s reasonable. FFN childcare / babysitters accepting public funds are government contractors. These providers should expect scrutiny, even from sensational influencers.
Krist Novoselić is Cascade Party Chair. He serves on the board of directors in an at-large position.
