What is a MA DCF Fair Hearing?

A “MA DCF Fair Hearing” is an opportunity for caretakers to challenge decisions made by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF). This formal hearing, heard in front of an impartial third party, also known as a “fair hearing officer,” serves as a crucial step in the DCF fair hearings process. The fair hearing officer acts as the “judge” of the hearing, providing a structured environment where parents and caretakers can present their side of the story. They can explain why the allegations against them should be changed from “supported” to “unsupported,” effectively seeking to overturn or reverse the decisions. This process is vital, as highlighted in the parents guide for fair hearings, offering a strategic approach to navigating the complexities of DCF procedures. Remember, there are four possible outcomes to an MA DCF investigation. The allegations are either:

  1. Unsupported
  2. Substantiated concern
  3. Supported without an assessment
  4. Supported with an assessment

Parents and caretakers can only request a MA DCF Fair Hearing when they are facing “supported” allegations of child abuse or neglect. Parents cannot request a Fair Hearing for “substantiated concern” decisions after a MA DCF investigation.

Who Can Request MA DCF Fair Hearings?

Alleged perpetrators, or the parents or caretakers accused of child abuse or neglect, can request for a MA DCF Fair Hearing. When the reported child is fourteen (14) years old, or older, they can request for a Fair Hearing on their own.

 

Why Should Parents Request a MA DCF Fair Hearing?

Parents should request a “MA DCF Fair Hearing” when the allegations against them are not true. Facing the consequences of a supported decision due to false allegations is simply unfair. Once MA DCF supports allegation of child abuse or neglect against you, it is put on your permanent record. Your name will be placed on a Registry of Alleged Perpetrators as well as the MA DCF Central Registry. When decisions are supported against you, you may lose your job or lose out on job opportunities. But worst of all, you can lose your children to foster care forever. Hire an experienced DCF attorney to represent you during this hearing. Your attorney will be able to guide you through the process and give you advice on what you should do to have a successful Fair Hearing.

When Should Parents Request a MA DCF Fair Hearing?

You have thirty (30) days from the date of your supported decision to request a Fair Hearing. That includes weekends and holidays. This does not mean thirty (30) days after you receive the letter explaining the decision. When parents fail to request a Fair Hearing on time, they will never be able to reverse a supported decision against them. Parents and caretakers can request a MA DCF Fair Hearing when the Department wrongfully supported allegations of child abuse or neglect against them. Parents and caretakers can also request for a Fair Hearing when the Department has done something against the law, or against their own regulations. The following are the two (2) most common situations for when parents and caretakers request for a Fair Hearing:

  • MA DCF wrongfully supported allegations after an investigation
  • MA DCF wrongfully kept allegations supported after an assessment

The following are other situations when parents and caretakers can request for a Fair Hearing:

When MA DCF:

  • Decided to reduce or terminate services to your family without giving you a reason
  • Over-charged you regarding a fee for services
  • Failed to follow their own regulations which resulted in substantial prejudice to the parent
  • Wrongfully placed a child in a placement across state lines
  • Parents/caretakers do not agree with MA DCF’s permanent placement plan for the child
  • Wrongfully placed their name(s) on the MA DCF Registry of Alleged Perpetrators

“Supported” allegations of child abuse or child neglect can be reversed only through a MA DCF Fair Hearing.

How can Parents Request a MA DCF Fair Hearing? 

Parents can request for a MA DCF Fair Hearing through a formal, written request. This letter must be addressed to the Fair Hearing Unit at 600 Washington Street, Floor 6, Boston, MA 02111.

You may file your Fair Hearing Request in the five following methods:

  • Hand Delivered to the Fair Hearing Unit Office
  • Addressed to the office at Fair Hearing Unit Office
  • Faxed to the Fair Hearing Unit Office
  • Submitted Online through the Submission Website
  • Emailed to the Fair Hearing Unit Office

Send a copy of your request to the DCF area office where the decision regarding your case was made. Address the copy to the area administrative manager or the area clinical manager of that DCF area office.

You may NOT file for a Fair Hearing over the phone, voicemail, or text message. But you can call the Fair Hearing Unit to make sure MA DCF got your letter or email.

The following is the contact information for the MA DCF Fair Hearing Unit:

Address: 600 Washington Street, 5th floor, Boston, MA, 02111
Phone: (617) 748-2030
Fax: (617) 748-2062
Email: [email protected]   

What Should Parents Include in their Request for a Fair Hearing?

The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF) offers parents and caretakers the option of a Fair Hearing. This hearing gives caretakers a chance to have the allegations against them overturned and get MA DCF out of their lives. 

To request for a MA DCF Fair Hearing, caretakers should write a letter to the Fair Hearing Unit at the MA DCF Central Office. They should include the following information in their request:

  • The alleged perpetrator’s name, phone number, and address
  • The phone number of the person requesting the Fair Hearing
  • A description of the decision being appealed
  • The date and time the decision was made
  • A copy of the decision
  • The name and address of the area office that made the decision
  • All the reasons why the “supported” allegations should be reversed to “unsupported”

The fair hearing request should specifically request a review of the decision.

What Happens During MA DCF Fair Hearings?

The MA DCF Fair Hearing usually happens at the DCF area office which made the original decision. A fair hearing should take two (2) hours, at most. But, you can ask for the hearing to be extended for longer. During a Fair Hearing, the Department will present the reasons why they supported allegations of child abuse or neglect against you. MA DCF will also go over what they did during their investigation or assessment. After the Department explains their side, you (as a parent or caretaker) can tell your story and give the fair hearing officer evidence that works in your favor.  The rules of evidence do not strictly apply during Fair Hearings. That means you or your attorney can provide the fair hearing officer with anything that will help your case, as long as it is relevant to the matter at hand. Hire an experienced MA DCF attorney to help guide you through the Fair Hearing process. Your attorney will also help you determine what evidence is material and relevant to your case. Regarding Fair Hearing matters, parents and caretakers have the right to:

  • Request for a rescheduled Fair Hearing
  • Use anything in their DCF file that relates to the issues raised in their Fair Hearing request
  • Bring witnesses or authorized representatives to testify on their behalf during the hearing
  • Subpoena witnesses
  • Have a translator or interpreter when necessary
  • Request for reasonable accommodations for handicapping conditions

What Happens After a MA DCF Fair Hearing?

After the MA DCF Fair Hearing, the fair hearing officer will decide to:

  1. Overturn the original decision
  2. Keep the original decision unchanged
  3. Remand the case back to the DCF Area Office that made the decision to uncover more relevant information about the family

The MA DCF commissioner must approve the fair hearing officer’s decision to overturn “supported” allegations. This officer must make their decision regarding the outcome of a case within sixty (60) working days after the hearing. This does not include weekends and holidays. When the FH officer needs more time to reach a decision, they will write you a letter explaining that. The fair hearing officer’s decision must include a summary of all the issues raised at the hearing. This includes an analysis of the facts of the case, the reasons for DCF’s original decision, and a plan for how MA DCF should or should not continue being involved with the family. The fair hearing officer should mail a letter explaining the decision to all the parties in the case. When you are unsatisfied with the outcome of the hearing, you can appeal the decision again through “Judicial Review”. You can do this by filing an appeal through the court.

What Happens if I Don’t Show Up To My DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts?

What happens if I fail to appear at my DCF Fair Hearing on the time, date and location that it’s scheduled in Massachusetts? When you fail to show up for your fair hearing in Massachusetts, you are forever barred from appealing that decision. This is one and done. You got one shot at this. Under any circumstances, if you’re not going to appear at your DCF Fair Hearing, it is incumbent upon you to be courteous and kind, and call the DCF Fair Hearing officer or the DCF Fair Hearing unit and tell them that you’re not intending to appear, that you’re withdrawing your right to a fair hearing so that there is not unnecessary time, waste of energy and resources by DCF, such as the fair hearing officer, the social worker and others that show up unnecessarily. That’s the right thing to do. If you’re not going to show up, call. Be a decent human being. Be fair to DCF. We can agree with disagree with DCF, but let’s do it as ladies and gentlemen. If you’re not going to show up for your fair hearing call DCF, put them on notice, tell him you’re not coming. Put it in writing, an email or mail it to them or call them…Whatever you going to do but don’t just not show up. That’s just not doing the right thing. And the consequences are you are forever barred from doing a fair hearing. Again, this is a one shot deal. One and done. Either you show up and you present your evidence or you don’t.

Can I Reschedule My DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts?

Can I, as a parent or caretaker, reschedule my fair hearing in Massachusetts? As a parent, a caretaker who has a scheduled fair hearing in Massachusetts, you can reschedule, but it must be for good cause shown. You have to write to the fair hearing unit and explain to them why you’re seeking a rescheduling. An example of this would be as if you have a planned vacation, which is planned long before the fair hearing, you get the date, it’s inconvenient. So you write to DCF and you ask them, I have planned to go to X, Y, and Z on vacation. I have allotted this time out. I scheduled this vacation long before I got this date. This date is inconvenient. I’m kindly asking to reschedule my fair hearing based upon whatever the reasons are. And what you want to do is help out the fair hearing unit. What do I mean by that? You want to give them dates that are agreeable and convenient for your schedule.

What Do I Do if DCF Doesn’t Unsupport my Allegations After the Fair Hearing in Massachusetts?

When the DCF Fair Hearing officer chooses to support the abuse or neglect allegations against you, you still have one more fighting chance to prove your innocence. You can appeal the Fair Hearing officer’s decision by going to the Superior Court. The main MA DCF office is in Boston, so you can file an appeal to the Superior Court in Suffolk County. Or, you can appeal that decision to the Superior Court in the county that you live in. If you live in Essex County, for example, you could appeal it to the Superior Court in Essex County. Or if you live in Worcester, you could have two bites of the apple. You could appeal it either to the Suffolk County, because that’s where DCF’s located at 600 Washington Street in Boston, Mass, or you could appeal to the Worcester Superior Court because you live in Worcester. So whenever the decision is adverse to you and ruled against by DCF. You can further appeal that decision to Superior Court. How many days do I have to appeal the DCF Fair Hearing officer’s decision? You have 30 days upon receipt of the decision from the fair hearing officer who rules against you and rules in favor of the DCF investigator, 30 calendar days to appeal that to the Superior Court in Massachusetts. This again is why it’s important to hold onto the envelope upon which you get that fair hearing decision in. Because there have been times when I’ve received an adverse decision from DCF that is not in conjunction with the postmark on the envelope. And the 30 days is very important. When you file for an appeal in Superior Court that tolls or eliminates the statute or the time period of 30 days. So as soon as you get that decision and you learn that it’s against you, you need to file the Superior Court immediately to toll the 30 days so that you’re not time barred from filing an appeal in Superior Court.

What Should I Do If I Don’t Receive Notice of Allegations from DCF in Massachusetts?

What should I do if I don’t receive a letter from the DCF, regarding my right to a fair hearing in Massachusetts. If you do not receive a letter from DCF regarding your right to a fair hearing in Massachusetts, you should immediately take action when you first learn about the fact you haven’t gotten a letter. You should ask and inquire into your assessment worker, whom should be doing an assessment of your family, that you request such a letter. You should also request DCF file to find out about the 51A report and 51B investigation to ascertain that indeed the allegation was supported against you. Once you learn notice that the decision has been supported against you, you should immediately file for fair hearing. When your name’s on the central registry you must take immediate action. Go in being proactive, file with the DCF hearing unit, file for your fair hearing, file in a timely fashion. So you’re not time bound and you not put on the outside looking in. Whereby you’re not given a right to your appeal of the allegation supported against you.

Who Can I Bring With Me During My DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts?

Who can I bring to my DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts? Anyone you feel would give evidence that could help you overturn, reverse, and unsupport this allegation of abuse and neglect against you. And that can include your entitled to an authorized agent. What does that mean? That means you can bring an attorney or a lawyer to the Fair Hearing. You also can bring family, friends, neighbors, anyone that has evidence that would bear on the allegations that they’re baseless, that they’re false, that they are untrue. You also could hire experts. There’s going to be times when DCF is going to tell you that they found X, Y, and Z due to some situation, A, B, and C. You may need to go get an expert to offset that. And there’s all types of experts, too many obviously to name here in this video, but just use your imagination. If somebody’s saying A, B and C, then you may have to get an expert to say X, Y, and Z.

Why Should I Hold Onto my DCF Supported Decision Letter in Massachusetts?

Why is it important to hold onto your DCF envelope that the supported the decision came in, regarding the allegations being supported in Massachusetts? The reason that the envelope in which the decision DCF mails you, in states that you’ve been a perpetrator of abuse and neglect in Massachusetts, is because you have only 30 days to appeal that. I’m going to give you an example. I had a case where the letter was dated in May, and then the letter was not received until late June, which is well beyond the 30 days. The postmark on the envelope will show that it’s contrary to what the letter was dated. Now this was nobody’s fault. DCF didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just that sometimes stuff gets lost in the mail, and transverse the universe. And by the time it gets to us, sometimes it’s a month or even longer. So you want to hold onto the envelopes that you get from DCF to show that postmark, because it’s extremely important to file for fair hearing within 30 days. There’s also other things that can happen. The US mail, on their website, indicates that mail sometimes get lost, whether from DCF coming to you or when you file for a fair hearing. So this is why I always suggest to my clients, don’t just mail a letter. Hand deliver it if physically possible. If you’re in the western part of the state, then do an email, fax it, send it through the portal for DCF. If you got a sky write it, do it. Make sure you hit the mark. Make sure you hit the bulls-eye. Make sure that DCF, the hearing unit, gets your request for a fair hearing. I think something that’s really, really, really important, and we lose sight of this, who is DCF? They’re the government, but they’re more than just the government. They’re human beings. They’re people. They’re individuals. They’re families just like you and I. And I had clients come to me and complain about DCF, regarding, “Oh, they didn’t send me a letter. They’re out to get me.” Or, “I never got that letter. DCF, that social… She’s out to get me.” And it couldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth. Remember, US mail, they’re human beings too. And we also, as clients and lawyers and judges and whatever we are, we too are human beings.So what’s my point? Human beings, whether it’s the US mail, whether it’s DCF, whether it’s my clients, whether it’s me as a lawyer, I can guarantee you two things. One, we’re all going to pass on in this great world of ours. And number two, you will, I have, and we’ll continuously make mistakes. So your DCF letter, by DCF, could have been put in the wrong mail, or they put the wrong address on it. God knows how many things could go wrong with it. Quite a few. Not intentional. We make mistakes. So does DCF. Then the US mail, it could have been mis-delivered accidentally to your neighbor, or not delivered at all, or lost in the mail. Or it could have been destroyed, unfortunately. Things happen. When Mitt Romney was governor, we used to always say, “Mitt happens.” And it’s still, Mitt happens, even though he’s in Utah now. With that said, you as a parent or a caretaker, could mail out your letter. You could have mis-transcribed the address. You could’ve put down the wrong zip code. I’ve done it. And I’ve had the letters come back to me. You may have put on improper postage, so could have DCF. Or the stamps could have fell off. I go on and on and on. There’s a million reasons why the letters weren’t received, or the letters weren’t sent, or the letters got lost. Don’t, don’t, don’t say, “DCF is out to get me.” That’s just silly talk. They’re way too far busy, with many families, to personally take you out of the eight items or less line and say, “We’re out to hurt you.” That may be true. I find it hard to believe. I do. So think positive, stay upbeat, and let’s move forward.

Are Children Allowed to Testify at a DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts?

Are children allowed to testify at a DCF Fair Hearing in Massachusetts? And the answer is yes, they can testify, but it must be a compelling reason why a child would testify at a DCF Fair Hearing. After doing hundreds of Fair Hearings since 1991, I have never had a child testify at a Fair Hearing. I don’t believe in it. I think it’s too traumatizing to any child to testify at a Fair Hearing.

 

blank Kevin Seaver is a trusted MA DCF Attorney Specializing in DCF Law since 1991. blank

disclaimer

You find yourself in this situation, it’s advisable to seek legal representation from a qualified attorney, like those at the Law Office of Kevin Seaver, who can advocate for your rights and guide you through the complex process of a DCF investigation.

Remember that the ultimate goal of DCF is to ensure the safety and well-being of children while supporting families in crisis.

Please note that this article does not create an Attorney-Client relationship between our law firm and the reader and is provided for informational purposes only. Information in this article does not apply to all readers.

Readers should not rely on this information as legal advice and should seek specific counsel from the attorney based on personal circumstances. Thank you.

Kevin Patrick Seaver is a Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer who represents parents against false child abuse allegations.

Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer Kevin Seaver has been successfully fighting false child abuse allegations since 1991.