DCF Fair Hearing Reports and Dockets

Author:

Department of Children and Families

These reports are required by DCF's budget, line item 4800-0015, which must be renewed annually. This reporting requirement remains in effect in the FY 2018 budget. (see https://malegislature.gov/Budget/FinalBudget).

The department is mandated to report the following information biannually on or around December 31 and March 31 of the fiscal year (December 29th 2017 and March 20th 2018 for FY2018) to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means and the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities:

(i) the fair hearing requests filed in the fiscal year, stating for each hearing request using nonidentifying information:
- (a) the subject matter of the appeal;
- (b) the number of days between the hearing request and the first day of the hearing;
- (c) the number of days between the first day of the hearing and the hearing officer’s decision;
- (d) the number of days between the hearing officer’s decision and the agency’s final decision;
- (e) the number of days of continuance granted at the appellant’s request;
- (f) the number of days of continuance granted at the request of the department of children and families or the hearing officer’s request, specifying which party made the request; and
- (g) whether the departmental decision that was the subject of the appeal was affirmed or reversed; and
(ii) the fair hearing requests filed before the fiscal year, which are pending for more than 180 days, stating
- the number of those cases,
- how many of those cases have been heard but not decided and how many have been decided by the hearing officer but not yet issued as a final agency decision;
- provided further, that the department shall maintain and make available to the public, during regular business hours, a record of its fair hearings, with identifying information removed, including for each hearing request: the date of the request, the date of the hearing decision, the decision rendered by the hearing officer and the final decision rendered upon the commissioner’s review