The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) paid over $18,000 in monthly subsidy checks to a guardian who had not had a child in their care for roughly two years, according to a recent notice included in the state auditors’ monthly loss report for September.
The report included several other reports of overpayments to providers, totaling over $30,000.
According to the report, DCF was tipped off by an anonymous caller that a relative guardian had been receiving monthly subsidy checks, totaling roughly $18,5000, for a child she had not been a guardian of for approximately two years.
DCF officials confirmed that the child’s biological parent was reinstated as a guardian in July 2024, but that the relative guardian continued to receive payments.
“In accordance with DCF procedures, the area office staff involved in the family’s case and the reinstatement notified the subsidy unit by e-mail of the reinstatement. While reinstatement occurred on July 4, 2024, the e-mail notification was not completed until October 15, 2024.” DCF’s report states. “Upon receipt of the reinstatement notification, procedure is for the subsidy technician to enter information into the case management system and end the case agreement (and associated placement) which ends all future payments. In this incident, there was no documentation to reflect that this occurred, and the agreement remained open until the anonymous caller brought this to the Department’s attention on 8/6/26.”
The report also states that a required annual review that was sent out to the guardian, which includes a sworn statement that a child lives in their home and is financially supported by them, was not signed and returned in 2024, 2025, or 2026.
“It has not been agency practice to stop payment when review/redetermination is not signed and returned by the caregiver.” the report states.
DCF officials deactivated the former guardian in its case management system and have not made any additional payments. However, although the agency sent a demand for the roughly $18,500 in payments the former guardian was not entitled to, they did not receive a response and sent the matter to collections.
As part of their follow-up to the incident, DCF officials reported they are developing a notification system for renewals, “including follow-up timelines for providers who have not responded, as well as flagging payment dates and any issues with the provider’s payments.
In another incident, DCF reported to auditors and the comptroller’s office that a foster care support worker flagged a potential overpayment totaling approximately $7,400 to a relative foster parent who was still receiving monthly subsidies after a child was reunited with their parent.
According to the notice, the worker flagged the issue on July 31, and DCF’s initial review confirmed that while the child left the relative guardian’s case on February 26, 2026, the placement ending was not entered into DCF’s electronic system until July 2026. As a result, payments continued to be sent to the provider.
“There is no record that the provider contacted the Department and the electronic record reflects that she received physical checks that were mailed and redeemed through July 15, 2026.” DCF wrote.
While DCF’s system identified the overpayment and generated a “reversal” line, because the provider no longer has children in her care, the system could not automatically recoup funds because there were no scheduled future payments.
“The system does not identify this inability to recoup funds in a way that provides automated notification to fiscal to initiate an alternate recoupment process.” DCF wrote. The agency’s fiscal department is working on calculating the total owed and issuing a demand letter to the provider.
DCF also reported that it fully recovered an additional $2,675.94 in improper payments to providers through bank checks processed by the department. DCF reported that several providers who were overpaid sent bank checks to the department, but department officials failed to cash the checks, so the overpayments were not rectified. A daycare provider notified DCF in January of two direct-deposit payments for services she did not provide.
DCF deactivated her in CT-KIND system to prevent payments from being made to her. Upon further review, they “did not identify a specific cause or systemic failure but rather indicated several user entry errors that resulted in payments to an incorrect provider in the CT-KIND system which had launched only months before”
According to the agency, DCF’s business team has conducted additional trainings.
Further, DCF provided a September 15 update on duplicate payments to providers sent in July. DCF reported reaching out to impacted providers, who are foster parents, to notify them of the overpayment and request repayment by check money order, or deductions from future monthly payments.
On August 20, DCF sent another round of notifications to those who had not responded, notifying them that overpayments not already returned would be automatically deducted from future payments.
Since then, an additional eight foster parents have remitted their overpayment. As of September 14, approximately 66 percent ($808,768) has been returned. DCF identified another group of additional foster parents who no longer have children in care and are not scheduled for future payments. They were given until October 15 to remit payment.
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