(Ohio Capital Journal Photo) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is seen speaking at a conference on Wednesday.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the head of the state’s Department of Children and Youth say they’ve engaged with the Trump administration to prove Ohio’s child care system is heavily safeguarded and worthy of federal funding.

DeWine and department Director Kara Wente said they haven’t received final word that they will continue receiving federal funding for the Publicly Funded Child Care program, but the state has eight to 10 weeks before “that would be problematic for the program we have now,” according to Wente.

“Certainly we know that we need the federal funds to maintain our program as is,” Wente said in a Monday news conference with DeWine.

“We know that we are moving on every measure that (the Trump administration) has outlined.”

The state leaders spoke to the media after allegations of child care fraud in Minnesota resulted in federal funding freezes for the state, ordered by Trump administration officials.

The allegations came from a right-wing social media influencer and focused on facilities run by Somali immigrants in the state. While the issue was covered extensively in 2022, the social media influencer’s latest allegations have brought it back to the forefront.

Ohio, like Minnesota, has one of the largest Somali populations in the country, but DeWine said the conversation should be steered away from the type of citizens running the centers, and toward protecting the public from fraud.

“We need to look at this as not a Somali problem, we need to look at this as a fraud problem,” DeWine said.

The governor said the “vast majority” of the Somali population in Ohio “have been here for a long time.”

He wouldn’t speculate on whether race or ethnicity was playing into the accusations of fraud at child care facilities.

“Many of them are citizens, many of them run businesses,” DeWine said. “So we need to not fixate on any one population, we need to fixate on the problem.”

The state leaders responded to calls from Republican state Rep. Josh Williams, who took to social media to demand that the Ohio Department of Children and Youth “investigate all Columbus-area daycares suspected of potential fraud.”

“We need round-the-clock, unannounced inspections of all child care facilities receiving public dollars to make sure not a single Ohioan’s tax dollars are being stolen,” Williams wrote in a post on X.

Wente said on Monday that her office has been in contact with Williams, telling him the measures he asked for are already methods the department uses to oversee child care centers.

DeWine also decried efforts by public citizens to enter child care facilities, saying the safeguards that are in place at facilities include keeping those who don’t work there or have children in the care of the facility from coming in.

“The facts are there’s a reason that citizens who are going up to video something and trying to see what’s going on inside the doors aren’t being allowed in,” DeWine said, adding that it shouldn’t be a shock that those people are barred from entry.

“Well hell no, no one should let them in,” he said.

At Monday’s press conference, DeWine and Wente provided a lot of the information provided by the governor’s office last week in a press release responding to the Minnesota headlines, including specific measures the state takes to try to prevent and identify fraud in child care centers.

That includes attendance-based funding, identity verification at individual facilities via PINs and QR codes, and regular inspections.

Child care advocates also defended the state’s child care sector last week, and affirmed the governor’s defense that facilities undergo strict scrutiny.

Wente also provided data on 61 child care facilities who were ordered by the department to return overpayments.

In total, the overpayments amounted to “just over $2 million,” the director told reporters.

In 2025, the department received 124 reports from citizens alleging child care fraud.

DeWine remains confident that the Trump administration will review Ohio’s child care program and continue sending federal funding to the state.

“We have about eight weeks and we have every confidence this will get resolved, and the federal government will be satisfied with what we’re doing,” DeWine said.

By Susan Tebben

Ohio Capital Journal

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