‘The kids are going to be the collateral damage,’ says the owner of an autism center on the brink of closure because of funding roadblocks.
A Minnesota autism center for adults and children, which has been operating for more than 20 years, is facing closure in the wake of the massive fraud scandal in the state that dates back more than a decade and involves more than $9 billion of U.S. taxpayer money.
The Holland Center is one of many legitimate centers in the state, which collectively serve thousands of disabled people. Founder, owner, and CEO Jennifer Larson built the Holland Center for her autistic, non-speaking son, who is now 25 years old.
She said she has recently been forced to put hundreds of thousands of her own dollars into keeping the center afloat because the state didn’t pay a single claim for nearly two months.
Because of the payment delays, Larson said autism centers like hers are being forced to reduce hours, cut staff, and close in some instances. Families are scrambling for help, disabled children and adults are regressing, and parents are leaving jobs to care for their disabled loved ones.
Larson told The Epoch Times her facility can’t continue much longer.
“The feds say it’s the state. The state says it’s the feds,” Larson said.
“The kids are going to be the collateral damage.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services paused child care and family assistance funds to Minnesota in early January due to the alleged rampant fraud. The state is appealing.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services told The Epoch Times via email that the federal government’s threat of withholding funds is “not impacting the current payment situation.”
However, Larson’s center accumulated nearly two months of unpaid claims from Dec. 5 to Jan. 29, totaling more than $600,000.
‘Everything Was Flagged’
Beginning in late December 2025, the state began using a new pre-payment review vendor called Optum, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) “at every step” of its claims and reimbursement processes. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had announced the contract with the new system in late October 2025.
“They implemented it because of the fraud. Obviously, the state wasn’t catching the fraud in the 300 or 400 centers that popped up in the last three years,” Larson said. She blames the Minnesota government for turning a blind eye to the “crime ring” involving fraud at Somali-run autism centers to an immense scale.
Neither Walz nor his office could be reached for comment during multiple attempts via emails and phone calls.
By Troy Myers
