Ohio County Agrees to Pay More Than $120,000 in Fees to Settle Lawsuit Over Exclusion of Christian Ministry From Foster Care System

Gracehaven, a ministry founded in 2008, operates state-licensed therapeutic group homes for young sex-trafficking survivors. One report describes the organization as a Christian ministry supporting young female survivors, while the other describes it by its commitment to employing people who share and adhere to its religious beliefs. Girls were placed in its homes through the county-administered foster-care system. For several years, Montgomery County in Ohio contracted with Gracehaven for substitute care services and reimbursed it with public funds.

According to one report, the county’s relationship with the ministry changed in 2024, after Gracehaven told county officials it would not waive its constitutionally protected freedoms. The other report says the county decided in 2024 to exclude Gracehaven after the ministry maintained its right to employ those who share its faith. Both reports state that county officials excluded Gracehaven from a public program and benefit for which it was otherwise qualified, and that the exclusion was based on its hiring commitment.

Gracehaven sued Montgomery County and its Department of Job and Family Services in 2024. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent the ministry in the lawsuit. One report states that a court ruled in April of the previous year that the county could not exclude Gracehaven from the foster-care system while the case proceeded. That report places the ruling before the 2024 exclusion described in the other account, and the two reports do not give a consistent sequence for the filing and the ruling, so the dates should be read with that discrepancy in mind.

Montgomery County officials agreed to pay more than $120,000 in attorneys’ fees to resolve the lawsuit. Protecting young people who have been exploited, and caring for them in safe homes, is the work at the center of this dispute (Proverbs 31:8-9).