OAKLAND -- A group of Oakland day care providers say they have been short changed tens of thousands of dollars, all because an organization in charge of funneling state money has been bouncing checks.

There was a closed door meeting Friday night, as dozens of Oakland day care providers hoped to get some answers as their financial woes seem to be mounting.

The organization, the Oakland Licensed Day Care Operators Association, says its bounced $120,000 in checks. The nonprofit was founded in 1974 and it's employees told KTVU it provides subsidized child care services for low income families and is entirely funded by the state.

"What's been going on is we had no idea that there was no monies available at the time the checks were being written so the checks went out and when we realized the checks were returning we knew there was an issue," Corean Todd, Oakland Licensed Day Care Association, exclusively told KTVU.

Todd said an audit discovered that the association somehow over-enrolled its providers and therefore when it wrote the checks, it surpassed the allotted amount of funds it received from the Department of Education.

"It wasn't known because the executive director and the accountant, who are no longer with us, because provided records to the board stating there was money, when there actually was not," Todd said.

The other problem effecting both the association and the providers is the state budget. Low income day care providers suggest that each day the budget is not signed, is another day providers will not receive money to help care for the children of low income families.

"That money helped me feed the children," said Oakland day care provider Everstine Martin. "Right now, it's a real hardship for me."

The Oakland Licensed Day Care Association says it cannot guarantee any reimbursement for services provided in May and June, although it did file a report with California in an effort to obtain those funds.