Adoption
Subsidy

Court Rules in Parents' Favor in Oregon

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of adoptive parents who brought suit against Oregon for cutting all subsidy rates by 7.5 percent in early 2003 without allowing parents to challenge the reduction through individual hearings. The state argued that, since rates late in 2003 rose higher than before the cut, the parents' suit was moot.

But in the opinion issued September 13, the court determined that the "district court erred in concluding that plaintiffs do not have federally enforceable rights to individualized payment determinations and to a fair hearing before a State agency to challenge individual benefit reductions pursuant" to the federal U.S. Code on adoption assistance. On October 3, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case so it will now go to federal court in Eugene, Oregon.