All 50 state notices remain on publication hold.
This is independent public-interest research, not legal advice, an official agency form, attorney-reviewed material or certified legal guidance. A notice does not initiate an appeal, pause a deadline, prevent an investigation or override court authority. Follow the actual notice and verify the current rule, case posture, recipient and delivery method.
Florida — do not import a general DCF hearing deadline into every CPS finding
What the sources establish
- Florida's official rule index identifies Rule 65C-29.002, Reports of Child Abuse, Neglect or Abandonment, as amended with an effective date of January 11, 2026. The prior version dated to August 23, 2018. The 2026 amendment is material; older copies of Chapter 65C-29 should not be treated as current without comparison.
- Florida DCF's Hearing Instructions page says that when a DCF notice of decision does not include hearing instructions, a request under Chapter 120 must be received by DCF by 5:00 p.m. Eastern no later than 21 calendar days after receipt of notice of the Department's decision. The page expressly frames these instructions as a fallback for the rare occasion when a notice omits instructions. It is not proof that every child-protective investigation finding carries a universal 21-day hearing right.
- The fallback instructions distinguish a formal hearing under §120.57(1), where facts are disputed and witnesses may be questioned, from an informal hearing under §120.57(2), where the requester does not dispute the facts stated in the notice. The request must include the decision, receipt information, disputed facts or agreement, supporting facts, legal grounds and requested relief. DCF warns that a request not in substantial compliance may be dismissed.
Audit action / remaining hold
Do not place “21 days to appeal a CPS finding” in the Florida notice as a blanket rule. The correct route depends on the actual DCF decision, the governing program/rule and the notice's stated rights. The official rule page confirms the 2026 effective date, but this pass did not complete a line-by-line comparison of the adopted rule text and every relevant Chapter 39 statute, including whether and how a particular investigation disposition is a Chapter 120 final agency action.
Florida official rule index — 65C-29.002 (effective Jan. 11, 2026) · Florida DCF Hearing Instructions
Pennsylvania — statute and regulation show a material 90-day / 45-day discrepancy
What the sources establish
- For an indicated report, 23 Pa.C.S. §6341(a)(2) says a person named as perpetrator, and a school employee named in the report, may within 90 days after being notified of the report status request administrative review or appeal and request a hearing before the Secretary to amend or expunge the report on specified accuracy/consistency grounds.
- The same statute says the Department must send notice of the Secretary's decision within 60 days after the request. If the request is refused or the Department does not act within the prescribed time, subsection (c) provides a right to appeal and request a hearing within 90 days after notice of the decision. Founded reports have a separate restriction: the named perpetrator must provide a court order showing the underlying adjudication was reversed or vacated.
- However, the current published text of 55 Pa. Code §3490.105a still says a perpetrator's written request to amend or expunge an indicated report must be postmarked within 45 calendar days from the mailing date of the ChildLine notice. The regulation's text therefore does not match the 90-day statutory language.
- 55 Pa. Code §3490.106a separately gives a 45-day postmark period to appeal the Secretary's decision on the amendment/expunction request; it also provides for a Bureau of Hearings and Appeals hearing, a 15-day reconsideration period and a 30-day Commonwealth Court appeal. It provides an automatic stay when the Department is notified of specified pending criminal or juvenile proceedings involving the same facts.
- Do not confuse the initial 90-day statutory right to request review/hearing with the later 45-day regulatory appeal from the Secretary's decision. The difference between the current statute and §3490.105a is a real source conflict requiring official agency clarification or controlling legal interpretation before the notice states a single filing deadline.
Audit action / remaining hold
This is a high-priority correction candidate, but the notice must not be silently changed to either 45 or 90 days without resolving the conflict. The statute is the enacted law; the published regulation is still the agency's operative procedural text. The notice should flag both, instruct readers to follow any shorter deadline printed on their actual notice while promptly seeking clarification, and avoid claiming that this research page resolves the legal conflict.
Official Pennsylvania statute — 23 Pa.C.S. §6341 · Official Pennsylvania Code — 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3490 · 55 Pa. Code §3490.106a
New Jersey — four findings, different review rights, and 20-day notice practice
What the sources establish
- New Jersey uses four findings: substantiated, established, not established and unfounded. The rule text describes a general 60-day period from receipt of the report at the State Central Registry, with good-cause extensions in 30-day increments where the investigator is continuing efforts to confirm credible information.
- The New Jersey DCF Parents' Handbook explains the different consequences: substantiated findings are disclosed for Child Abuse Record Information checks; established and not-established findings remain in agency records but are not disclosed in a CARI check; unfounded findings are eligible for expungement if applicable criteria are met.
- The 2025 Appellate Division opinion in A.K. v. DCF explains that there is no administrative review right under the cited regulation for a “not established” finding; that agency finding is a final decision appealable as of right to the Appellate Division. The opinion also describes the potential lasting consequences of a not-established finding.
- New Jersey's administrative hearing rule, N.J.A.C. 3A:5-4.3, provides an OAL hearing route for a perpetrator challenging a substantiated finding when material facts are disputed. New Jersey case law has also recognized a hearing route for an “established” finding. Do not tell readers that all four findings have the same administrative hearing route.
- New Jersey Legal Services' public guide describes a 20-calendar-day period after receipt of notice to request review of a substantiated finding, with an internal review before a possible OAL hearing. Because the precise current rule text and actual notice instructions must control, this pass treats 20 days as a critical notice-based filing period to verify against the specific letter, not a substitute for checking the rule and case posture.
- N.J.A.C. 3A:10-7.6 says finding notices are generally to be provided no later than 10 days after the finding, subject to approved good cause and litigation/criminal-investigation delay provisions. It requires written notice to the perpetrator of substantiated or established allegations and notification to specified caregivers/parents when the investigation is completed.
Audit action / remaining hold
The New Jersey notice must distinguish internal review, OAL contested-case hearing, and direct judicial appeal. It must also distinguish the registry/CARI consequences from whether the finding meets the statutory definition of abuse or neglect. The current administrative code pages located in this pass are secondary reproductions current through June 16, 2025; the exact official 2026 filed text and notice version still need verification. Do not imply that “not established” means no consequences or that it is automatically expunged.
New Jersey DCF Parents' Handbook · New Jersey Appellate Division, A.K. v. DCF (Oct. 15, 2025; nonprecedential) · Legal Services of New Jersey — appealing a substantiated finding · N.J.A.C. 3A:5-4.3 text reproduction · N.J.A.C. 3A:10-7.6 text reproduction
Cross-state findings
- Florida: the 21-day Chapter 120 hearing instruction is a fallback for notices lacking instructions, not a universal CPS appeal deadline.
- Pennsylvania: current statute says 90 days for the initial indicated-report amendment/review request, while the published regulation says 45 days from mailing. This is an unresolved conflict, not a typographical detail.
- New Jersey: review and hearing rights depend on the finding category. A substantiated finding is not interchangeable with established, not established or unfounded.
- Registry consequences: all three states require separate analysis of the agency's finding, record/registry treatment and the route to challenge or expunge that record.
Scope and release decision
This pass focused on findings and appeals. It did not complete a full audit of interviews, home entry, emergency removal, records access, retention or expungement for all three states. The state notice PDFs were not edited. Any proposed Pennsylvania correction must wait for resolution of the statute/regulation mismatch; Florida and New Jersey likewise retain source-version and notice-specific questions.
Release decision: HOLD. No state is cleared by this pass. All 50 state notices remain research drafts. No attorney review, legal certification or case-specific legal suitability is claimed.
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