Agency officials studying suit filed last week

MATTAWA — An attorney for nine Mattawa-area daycare providers says his clients want to change the way things are done at the Department of Social and Health Services, and those providers have filed suit in part to do so.

Ty Duhamel with Columbia Legal Services in Wenatchee is representing the nine women who say their rights were violated during a 2001 investigation into charges that those daycare providers charged for "phantom children."

"We have to change state policy," Duhamel said.

The providers and Columbia Legal Services filed their class-action lawsuit Friday in Thurston Superior Court, which also names several Grant County officials involved in the investigation. DSHS has temporarily withdrawn overpayment requests to daycare providers, but say the action came at the request of authorities in a continuing federal investigation.

A similar claim was filed in federal court last summer by 11 providers who contended officials improperly questioned the women's immigration status. The current suit also states that the plaintiffs are seeking relief from future conduct that discriminates on the basis of race and national origin.

In addition to several officials at DSHS, the suit has also been filed against a number of county officials including Mattawa Mayor Judy Esser, Mattawa Police Chief Randall Blackburn, Mattawa Police Officer Steve Jensen and Grant County Sheriff's Detective David Matney. The suit has been filed against Grant County and the town of Mattawa as well.

In an interview, Duhamel echoed the suit's complaint, saying that in filing suit, that the daycare providers are trying to prevent DSHS from violating the constitutional rights of all child care providers in the state of Washington.

"These are hard working women who care for children," Duhamel said. The suit states that the 2001 investigation was started after Esser reported to DSHS that Mattawa police and employees "had not observed any children at most of the Latina family home care residences in Mattawa," and the providers were illegally billing DSHS for the children that didn't exist.

The suit goes on to say that Esser caused violations of the provider's fourth amendment rights during the investigation in her role at the city's chief policy-making official.

Esser could not comment on the suit, and asked all communications to be diverted to attorney Harold Moberg. Moberg was unavailable for comment before deadline.

Grant County had not been served with the suit as of Tuesday afternoon, and commissioners said they would comment after they had seen the suit.

The suit states that despite the conclusion by DSHS's Division of Fraud Investigation, 50 daycare homes were raided in the town over a two-day period in 2002. The nine plaintiffs are claiming that their constitutional rights were violated when investigating officials demanded immediate entry into homes and seized documents without a warrant.

The providers in the suit state that the investigation targeted LatinO providers, whose constitutional rights were violated, and who were discriminate against by DSHS officials who refused to translate legal documents "into the primary language of (Limited English Proficient,) licensed family child care providers." The providers are also citing discrimination based upon questions they received about their citizenship status.

Defendants are also saying in the suit that their constitutional rights were violated by the recruitment of outside law enforcement agencies who accompanied DSHS staff in the searches and seizures.

DSHS officials prefer not to comment on the suit, saying that the agency is studying the claim.

DSHS has demanded the repayment of thousands of dollars previously paid to several of the providers. In a release by DSHS this week, the agency states that the State Auditor's Office investigated a complaint that a DSHS employee in Moses Lake failed to verify and report overpayments to daycare providers; but the release said the SAO "found no reasonable cause to believe improper government action occurred." DSHS said they are also making improvements to issues raised in another SAO report concerning attendance and immunization records, fire alarm inspections and background check improvements.

DSHS states in the release that its Division of Child Care and Early Learning has taken several measures in the last few years to improve the accuracy of provider billing documents to reduce the instances of overpayments.

DSHS has temporarily withdrawn overpayment requests from the providers, but DSHS spokesmen said this week that the withdrawal was at the request of the Yakima U.S. Attorney who is continuing with a federal investigation of the daycare providers.

DSHS spokesman Steve Williams said Monday that while overpayments are not currently being requested by DSHS, those overpayments may again be requested in the future.

"It was at the U.S. Attorney's request that we withdraw any action on overpayments," Williams said.