§ 237A.29 — Public funding of child care — sanctions

Iowa § 237A.29

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title VI: HUMAN SERVICES
• Ch. 237A: CHILD CARE FACILITIES

Text

1. State funds and federal funds provided to the state in accordance with federal
requirements shall not be used to pay for the care, supervision, and guidance of a child for
periods of less than twenty-four hours per day on a regular basis unless the care, supervision,
and guidance is defined as child care as used in this chapter.
2. a. For the purposes of this subsection, “fraudulent means” means knowingly making
or causing to be made a false statement or a misrepresentation of a material fact, knowingly
failing to disclose a material fact, or committing a fraudulent practice.
§237A.29, CHILD CARE FACILITIES 18
b. A child care provider that has been found by the department of inspections, appeals,
and licensing in an administrative proceeding or in a judicial proceeding to have obtained, or
has agreed to entry of a civil judgment or judgment by confession that includes a conclusion
of law that the child care provider has obtained, by fraudulent means, public funding for
provision of child care in an amount equal to or in excess of the minimum amount for a
fraudulent practice in the second degree under section 714.10, subsection 1, paragraph “a”,
shall be subject to sanction in accordance with this subsection. Such child care provider
shall be subject to a period during which receipt of public funding for provision of child care
is conditioned upon no further violations and to one or more of the following sanctions as
determined by the department:
(1) Ineligibility to receive public funding for provision of child care.
(2) Suspension from receipt of public funding for provision of child care.
(3) Special review of the child care provider’s claims for providing publicly funded child
care.
c. The following factors shall be considered in determining the sanction or sanctions to
be imposed under paragraph “b”, subparagraphs (1) through (3):
(1) Seriousness of the violation.
(2) Extent of the violation.
(3) History of prior violations.
(4) Prior imposition of sanctions.
(5) Prior provision of provider education.
(6) Provider willingness to obey program rules.
(7) Whether a lesser sanction will be sufficient to remedy the problem.
d. In determining the value of the public funding obtained by fraudulent means, if the
public funding is obtained by two or more acts of fraudulent means by the same person or
in the same location, or is obtained by different persons by two or more acts which occur in
approximately the same location or time period so that the acts of fraudulent means used to
obtain the public funding are attributable to a single scheme, plan, or conspiracy, these acts
may be considered as a single instance of the use of fraudulent means and the value may be
the total value of all moneys involved.
3. a. Ifachildcareproviderissubjecttosanctionsundersubsection2,withinfivebusiness
days of the date the sanctions are imposed, the provider shall submit to the department the
namesandaddressesofchildrenreceivingchildcarefromtheprovider. Thedepartmentshall
send information to the parents of the children regarding the provider’s actions leading to the
imposition of the sanctions and the nature of the sanctions imposed.
b. If the child care provider fails to submit the names and addresses within the time
period required by paragraph “a”, the department shall request that the attorney general file
a petition with the district court of the county in which the provider is located for issuance
of a temporary injunction enjoining the provider from providing child care until the names
and addresses are submitted to the department. The attorney general may file the petition
upon receiving the request from the department. Any temporary injunction may be granted
without a bond being required from the department.
c. If the sanctions imposed under subsection 2 involve the provider’s suspension or
ineligibility for receiving public funding for provision of child care, the department shall not
impose those sanctions before the parents of the affected children are informed, and upon
request, shall provide assistance to the parents in locating replacement child care.