Benjamin M. Murphy, Sr. v. Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, et al.

Title IV-E of the Social Security Act authorizes federal foster-care maintenance payments only for an eligible child “removedfrom the home of a relative specified in section 606(a)” and only when the child’s “removal andfoster care placement” satisfy the conditions Congress imposed. 42 U.S.C. § 672(a)(1). Congress further required that removal and placement be “in accordance with” either a voluntary placement agreement or a judicial determination that continuation in the home would be contrary to the child’s welfare, coupled with reasonable-efforts findings of the type described in § 671(a)(15). 42 U.S.C. § 672(a)(2)(A)(i)-(ii); § 671(a)(15). Petitioner is a custodial father who alleges that State officials treated his child as “removed” and “placed” without an actual physical removal, without the judicial and reasonable-efforts determinations Congress required, and by fabricating “exigency” and removal status on paper to drive downstream proceedings and to draw federal funds. The questions presented are: 1. Title IV-E compliance / “Removal” meaning. Whether a State may obtain federal foster-care maintenance funding under 42 U.S.C. § 672(a)(1) where the supposed “removal” is only a paper designation and the State lacks the judicial determination and reasonable-efforts findings required by 42 U.S.C. § 672(a)(2)(A)(ii) and § 671(a)(15).