Marin

*331 California's adoption assistance program (AAP) provides financial support to families to facilitate the adoption of special needs *332 children who would otherwise remain in long-term foster care. AAP monthly payments are negotiated between the adoptive parents and the responsible public agency, but are limited to the applicable basic foster care maintenance payment rate. ( Welf. & Inst. Code, § 16119, subd. (d)(1) ; 1 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 22, § 35333.) California's foster care maintenance program requires that foster parents be reimbursed for certain costs enumerated by statute. (§ 11460, subd. (b); 42 U.S.C. § 675 (4)(A).)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) upheld a district court's determination that the amount the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) pays for foster care maintenance violates federal law because it does not cover the statutorily enumerated costs. ( California State Foster Parent Assn. v. Wagner (9th Cir. 2010) 624 F.3d 974 , 978 ( Wagner ).) The district court enforced this decision by ordering CDSS "to implement [its] new method for determining the rates of payments to foster parents that includes…