A report released Wednesday by the Legislative Audit Bureau indicates that four child care providers’ homes are also the residences of registered sex offenders.

Kate Wade, evaluation director for the LAB, said the agency is looking at the overall regulation of the Wisconsin Shares Program, a child care assistance program administered by the Department of Children and Families. She said normally the state runs background checks on child care providers, employees and non-client residents.

Wade also said a registered sex offender who has completed a rehabilitation program is able to obtain licensing and live at a child care provider’s residence.

According to Wade, the LAB ran the list of licensed child care providers in the program against the Department of Corrections’ Sex Offender Registry and they found four matching addresses.

“We informed both [DOC and DCF] and they responded promptly,” Wade said. “They are moving very aggressively, which signals our findings are being taken very seriously.”

Wade also said DCF Secretary Reggie Bicha announced the agency will use a different check, called the reverse address match, and there will be other policy changes on the way.

Wade added it is not clear why the matches did not appear when the DCF ran the preliminary background check and said LFB is continuing investigations into the agency.

“The question remains, ‘What else is out there?’” Wade said. “The Department of Justice also has a database of many crimes, so we are matching with that data, too.”

Joint Audit Committee Co-Chair Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, spoke at a press conference Wednesday on this matter, as well as the other problems with Wisconsin Shares, such as child care providers who have fraudulently collected state funding.

“There are problems that affect the integrity of [Wisconsin Shares],” Vinehout said. “These problems are simply intolerable; they require immediate action.”

Vinehout said one of the problems of the agency is the background checks were just done on names, not addresses. She added the checks need to be done continuously to ensure nothing is overlooked.

JAC member Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said it is appalling that such an error was made and she is worried what the LAB will find next.

“It’s just gotten to be that every day, I wonder, ‘What’s the next shoe to fall?’” Lazich said. “Just to think there are sex offenders at a daycare — it’s just so alarming it’s beyond words.”

According to Lazich, the LAB’s full audit report on the Wisconsin Shares program will be out by the end of year.

As soon as the report came out, Lazich said she began work on drafting two new bills: one of which would make the background check on child care agencies a requirement, the second would not allow rehabilitated sex offenders to be involved in a child care agency in any manner.