The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) has just filed a formal correction in the 4-6 month parent replacement lawsuit, admitting that their original legal argument misstated the law on whether family caregivers can provide services while their loved one is hospitalized.
This correction is a result of our legal response pointing out their error. If we had not called them out, this false claim could have remained unchallenged, potentially influencing both the court and public perception.
What Just Happened?
DODD originally argued that parents cannot continue to provide personal care services while their child is in the hospital. This was one of DODD’s main points in its larger argument against family caregivers in general.
Our legal team exposed their argument as factually and legally incorrect by citing the actual rule—OAC 5123-9-30(D)(7)—which explicitly allows caregivers to provide services in hospital settings. This is a rule that DODD itself wrote.
DODD was forced to correct their mistake, filing a motion admitting that their statement was “inconsistent” with the law.
DODD’s Opposition to Family Caregivers
DODD’s Motion to Dismiss went beyond arguing in favor of its 4-6 month parent replacement policy. Instead of just arguing for the legality of attempting to replace family caregivers every 4-6 months, DODD used this opportunity to disparage the entire idea of hiring parents as direct care workers in the first place. Their motion included opinions against hiring family caregivers at all, a topic completely unrelated to this lawsuit. For example, they insisted that strangers provide “more stability” than family caregivers.
Why This Matters
DODD’s bizarre Motion to Dismiss filing raises a lot of questions about the department’s ignorance of its own administrative rules. How was DODD unaware that caregivers can continue to provide care in hospitals, when they themselves wrote that rule? This raises serious questions about how carefully DODD is handling this case—and we can add this to the serious questions about how carefully DODD handles the care of Ohio’s most vulnerable children.
This also shows that our legal challenge is working. By holding DODD accountable, we are forcing them to correct the record and ensuring that families are not misled or pressured based on false information.
Most importantly, this correction highlights DODD’s deep hostility toward family caregivers, in line with what we see from the Ohio Association of County Boards. Instead of focusing on the very narrow, specific legal question in this case—whether the 4-6 month parent replacement mandate is lawful—DODD took the opportunity to argue that it’s a bad idea to hire family caregivers in general. That’s not even part of this lawsuit, but at least we know where they stand.
What’s Next?
This correction is just one battle in the larger fight. DODD is still trying to defend their 4-6 month parent replacement mandate, which is not found anywhere in Ohio law, never went through the rigor of Ohio’s rulemaking process, and is causing chaos for disabled children across the state.
We will continue to expose DODD’s misstatements, challenge their unlawful policies, and fight for the right of kids with disabilities to receive stable, qualified care from their family members if they choose—without unnecessary bureaucratic interference. We have already filed another lawsuit against DODD and several county boards for conducting harmful and unlawful unannounced home inspections.
Stay tuned for more updates as we move forward.
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