Child food program failures cost taxpayers millions

A school lunch of a sandwich, apple and chips is shown.
A school lunch of a sandwich, apple and chips is shown.

For five years, Vivian Parker and her two adult daughters raked in nearly half a million dollars in bonuses - taxpayer dollars, rubber-stamped by state officials - to operate a food program in rural west Tennessee intended to feed hungry children.

Parker's nonprofit agency, ABC Nutrition Services, headquartered in the basement of her home, billed the state to pay for salaries that are almost unheard of at small, anti-poverty organizations.

Parker's salary plus bonus topped $100,000 last year. She also was reimbursed for the cost of remodeling her home office in Camden, adding a new deck and widening her driveway. Thousands more were spent on other perks: meals, hotel movies, late credit card fees and cable and internet services.

View more at out news partner's website, tennessean.com.

Spending spree

One small agency responsible for providing meals and snacks to low-income children in a rural area just west of Nashville in Benton County spent: * $419,269: Bonuses for management, consisting of a mother and two daughters, from 2009 to 2014* $170,776: Inflated salaries for management from 2009 to 2014* $99,538: Unauthorized expenses including utility payments, equipment rental, hotel movies, credit card late fees and Internet and cable services.* $27,185: Construction to the CEO’s home, including a new deck, remodeled home office and new drivewaySource: Tennessee Comptroller

How the programs work

The Department of Human Services is responsible for operating the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program for Children, distributing nearly $80 million annually to contractor agencies. Those agencies, in turn, provide meals and snacks to day care centers, mobile lunch buses, emergency shelters and recreational programs, feeding 180,000 Tennessee children during the school year and 42,000 children each day during summer months. About 1,200 adults in adult day care also benefit.

Issues auditors uncovered

Auditors with the state Comptroller's office found significant issues with contractors who are supposed to provide meals and snacks to 180,000 children during the school year and more than 40,000 in the summer. The problems include contractors who: * Billed for double the meals they were approved to provide * Mysteriously lost paperwork when auditors arrived to inspect them * Failed to ensure qualified children received meals and incorrectly calculated administrative expenses owed to them * In total, it added up to $1.8 million in questionable payments last year in just the small sample of agencies auditors reviewed. In 2013, the questioned costs reached $4.3 million. DHS officials note that most of the questioned costs are a result of poor record keeping, rather than children going unfed. Source: Tennessee Comptroller

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