In Ohio, over 70% of children adopted from the foster care system are adopted by their foster parents. Over 90%are eligible for adoption assistance. When it comes to negotiating the amount of adoption assistance, however, these adoptive parents usually encounter strong opposition if they propose an adoption subsidy equal to that of the child’s foster care payment rate. The higher the child’s foster care rate, the stronger the opposition by the county agency. Foster parents adopting children with extraordinary levels of care are often confronted with demands by the agency for an adoption assistance agreement that is less than half of the child’s foster care payment rate. In practice, Ohio’s adoption assistance program discriminates against children with the most serious problems. The following example captures the very real patterns of discrimination. Mr.