Comptroller: Funds for hungry Tennessee kids spent on hotels, Xbox

A report by the Tennessee Comptroller detailed hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable spending for food programs intended to feed low-income children under the oversight of the Department of Human Services.

In one case, the dollars intended for children at risk for hunger were instead spent on Xboxes, at Shoe Carnival and hotels by All About Giving, an agency under the supervision of the department that was supposed to provide food to 23 daycare centers in Nashville and Knoxville. The Comptroller found DHS oversight was so lax that All About Giving was able to bill the state for food intended for eight daycare centers that could not be found.

DHS also failed to properly oversee a second organization that promised to provide food for low-income Memphis children during the summer. Staff at that organization withdrew cash with no documentation it was ever spent on food and employees told investigators that numerous documents were falsified.
DHS's lax oversight of the food programs has been highlighted by lawmakers, the Comptroller and a Tennessean investigation stretching back three years. In December, former DHS chief Raquel Hatter resigned. At the time, Gov. Bill Haslam praised her leadership.

In March, a state audit pointed to $11.4 million in questionable spending by the department, chiefly centered around the ill-managed child food program. The same month, the state comptroller also issued reports on two private businesses overseen by the department that are under criminal investigation surrounding allegations they pocketed thousands of dollars intended for needed children.

The audit essentially laid blame for the food program's failures at the feet of Hatter.
A 2015 Tennessean investigation revealed a pattern of problems at licensed child care centers where laws were broken, placing children's welfare at risk. The centers, overseen by DHS, continued to be rated at a two- or three-star level, considered the gold standard by many parents weighing child care choices.
The investigation showed multiple violations at the taxpayer subsidized child care centers. Nineteen child care centers in Nashville received $10 million in taxpayer subsidies over a four-year period despite incidents that included a toddler who fell through an open vent into a basement 8 feet below, a caregiver testing positive for drug use and numerous lapses in supervision.