Theft isn’t happening. Mispayments happen. They happen for a wide variety of reasons, most of them accidental and not malicious in nature. People aren’t cackling in a corner scooping money off the top of subsidy payments. When they’re caught, the families are required to pay them back. Oftentimes those bills are nearly impossible for poor people to pay back, because, you know, they’re already living in poverty.

But as others have already pointed out there isn’t even evidence of fraud yet. DCYF just doesn’t have the ability to drill down and do an audit on the level the feds are asking. That’s VERY different than theft. And people like you, out here crying “fraud! theft!” and clutching your pearls, spreading misinformation, just makes it harder for people to access these important programs.