A father recently described a potentially false claim of harassment from his child's day care provider who is a good friend of the mother after he requested documentation via child care verification form

This was my reply to him. I've included it here in case other fathers or parents face a similar situation, in the hopes that it may help them to obtain justice:

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

It is possible that a child care provider may file a false claim of harassment when asked to provide child care expenses information to a court. This is especially true if that child care provider is a close friend with the custodial parent, normally the mother.

This may be because mom is falsifying her childcare expenses and her friend knows it or is involved. By claiming very high child care expenses, mom can get a higher child support payment from the court and put more of her child's money in her pocket.

That may be fraud:

Fraud Fraud is both a civil tort and criminal wrong.

In civil litigation, allegations of fraud might be based on a misrepresentation of fact that was either intentional or negligent. For a statement to be an intentional misrepresentation, the person who made it must either have known the statement was false or been reckless as to its truth. The speaker must have also intended that the person to whom the statement was made would rely on it. The hearer must then have reasonably relied on the promise and also been harmed because of that reliance.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fraud

That is illegal and it's theft from the child and the father. The best interests of the child are in the correct application of the child support formula.

Possible criminal conspiracy against rights:

"If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or"

18 U.S. Code § 241.Conspiracy against rights

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/241

Because the federal government pays to enforce child support obligations under Title IV-D, defrauding the other parent is also defrauding the United States:

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Dad has a right to his income and the child has a right to their share of the family income while in dad's care. Such a conspiracy may be a conspiracy against rights:

Possible criminal conspiracy against rights:

"If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or"

18 U.S. Code § 241.Conspiracy against rights

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/241

Because the child care provider is hired to care for the child and not to engage in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the child, it may also be honest services fraud:

Possible honest services fraud:

For the purposes of this chapter, the term “scheme or artifice to defraud” includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.

18 U.S. Code § 1346.Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1346

The use of any false claim of harassment after dad requests documentation of child care expenses may be:

Obstruction of justice Definition 18 U.S.C. § 1503 defines "obstruction of justice" as an act that "corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obstruction_of_justice

If I felt my child and I were being defrauded, I would consider seeking the advice of a lawyer. I would also consider filing a police complaint, doing so in writing with a trusted witness with me at all times.

I wish you the best of luck in your search for justice.