INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The Indiana Department of Child Services says it isn't paying subsidies to parents who adopted special-needs children out of foster care because the state Legislature hasn't appropriated enough money.

The agency is facing a lawsuit from a northern Indiana woman seeking the nearly $19-per-child daily payments that were in a contract when she when adopted her three children in 2012. The lawsuit says the agency hasn't made the payments while returning about $240 million to state coffers since 2009.

The Indianapolis Star reports (http://indy.st/V7wJoo ) the agency says in a court filing it can only make the payments if it determines sufficient money is available.

The attorney representing Debra Moss of LaPorte says the agency's returned money could've been used for the adoption payments to some 1,400 families.