Settlement gets ministry back into Ohio county’s foster care

An Ohio county agreed to pay $120,000 to settle a lawsuit with a ministry that was excluded from the foster care system for hiring only Christian employees. The settlement paid attorney’s fees while ensuring Gracehaven could access the system, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the nonprofit. Montgomery County officials wrongly denied public benefits to the ministry, ADF said Tuesday. Gracehaven, a chapter of Youth for Christ USA, describes itself as working with youth rescued from sex trafficking through a team of Christian workers and like-minded partners.

Gracehaven sued county officials in 2024 after they excluded it due to its religious-hiring practices. The ministry solely hires employees who adhere to its Christian beliefs. Before 2024, the county contracted with Gracehaven for substitute foster-care services and reimbursed the nonprofit for its services using public funds. But then in 2024, the county altered its contract to include an employment non-discrimination provision, and Gracehaven declined to sign the changed contract due to its hiring practices. The settlement was a win for the vulnerable young women served by Gracehaven, said Kristen Waggoner, the president of ADF.

What services did Gracehaven provide girls coming from foster care? The ministry used the foster-care system to place trafficked girls into Gracehaven’s state-licensed therapeutic group homes, said Director Scott Arnold. Being able to hire a team of like-minded employees has been paramount to the nonprofit's work, Arnold said. The employees work to ensure that the girls can work through their trauma and move toward healthy lives, he said.

In 2025, a federal district court ruled that while the legal case proceeded in court, the county could not exclude Gracehaven from the foster care system. In light of that ruling, the county agreed to a settlement, and ADF attorneys filed a stipulated dismissal of the case in April.

Dig deeper: Read my report on an Indiana school district that settled with a counselor who was fired for leaking the district’s gender identity policy.