Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Cincinnati.
No. 1:20-cv-00944—Michael R. Barrett, District Judge.
Argued: June 7, 2022
Decided and Filed: September 28, 2022
Before: McKEAGUE, NALBANDIAN, and READLER, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Child foster care systems in this country are
administered by the various state governments. The federal government, however, will
reimburse states, like Ohio, for “foster care maintenance payments” that the state makes to
certified foster caregivers who meet federal-eligibility requirements. In Ohio, there are also
foster caregivers whom the state does not certify as meeting those federal requirements. So Ohio
withholds payments for those caregivers. Instead, Ohio provides these non-certified caregivers
with less generous payments through a separate state program. The plaintiffs here are a group of
foster caregivers whom Ohio has considered ineligible to receive the higher foster care
maintenance payments but who argue that they meet the federal requirements and are thus
entitled to those payments. So they have sued Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and the Director of
the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The district court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ claims, finding that the Plaintiff caregivers do
not have to meet the same licensing standards as licensed caregivers in Ohio and thus were not
“foster family homes” as required by federal law. Because Title IV-E of the Social Security Act
requires that all foster family homes eligible for payments under federal law meet the same
licensing standards, we agree with the district court that the Plaintiffs are not eligible to receive
the foster care maintenance payments and affirm. |