King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski has proposed an amendment to the county’s budget that Department of Community and Human Services director Susan McLaughlin said will have “devastating impacts” on the county’s ability to deliver services through Best Starts for Kids, a countywide levy that pays for child care subsidies, mental health support, after-school programs, and other services for parents and kids.
An explosive audit last year found poor financial oversights, waste, and potential fraud in four Best Starts programs, and a followup investigation by the county’s ombuds office found that fraud, waste, and abuse “in some cases likely occurred” and that conflicts of interest were common.
Many of the community groups DCHS decided to contract with during and after the pandemic were considered “high risk” because were completely new to government contracting; the audit focused on these programs, according to DCHS Director Susan McLaughlin, “because issues had been raised around them” within DCHS. In April, the county auditor found that DCHS had made significant progress on audit recommendations, improving training and awareness…