Iowa, Kansas and Maryland: Focused Source Audit

Founded, confirmed and registry-eligible dispositions

• Iowa distinguishes a founded child-abuse disposition that is confirmed and placed on the Central Abuse Registry from a confirmed assessment that does not meet registry-placement criteria. The current HHS Notice of Child Abuse Assessment: Founded (Form 470-3243, revised April 2026) explicitly says “Founded (Confirmed and Placed)” and separately explains “Confirmed” without registry placement. Do not treat every confirmed assessment as a registry case.
• Iowa Code §235A.19(2) requires HHS, when issuing assessment results, to notify the person named as having abused the child of the right to a contested-case hearing. Other subjects are notified of a right to intervene in that contested-case proceeding.
• Under §235A.19(3)(a), a subject may file a written statement with HHS within 90 days from the date of the assessment-results notice, asserting that report/disposition data is wholly or partly erroneous and requesting correction of the data or findings. HHS Form 470-3243 likewise directs that a correction request and appeal be submitted within 90 days of the date on the notice.
• For the person named as having abused the child who is adversely affected by a founded disposition, §235A.19(3)(b) requires HHS to provide an opportunity for a Chapter 17A contested-case hearing to correct the data or findings unless HHS grants the requested correction. The registry placement does not eliminate this hearing right.
• Other subjects may file a motion to intervene in the contested-case proceeding. The statute does not make every subject an independent appellant on identical terms; distinguish the alleged perpetrator's hearing right from another subject's intervention right.
• HHS Form 470-3243 (Rev. 04/26) says an addendum that changes the original assessment findings starts a new 90-day period from the addendum notice. If the addendum does not change the findings, the 90-day period remains tied to the original notice. Follow the actual addendum language.
• HHS accepts appeals through its online Appeals process, email appeals@hhs.iowa.gov, fax (515) 564-4044, or mail to HHS Appeals, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319. The agency's public appeal page lists child-abuse appeals at 90 days. The actual founded notice supplies the specific directions and controlling case details.
• HHS may defer a hearing until the adjudicatory phase of a related juvenile or district-court case concludes. On a party's request, the presiding officer may stay the hearing. A child-in-need-of-assistance adjudication or related criminal conviction may be determinative in the contested-case proceeding; it does not mean every allegation is automatically resolved by any unrelated court event.
• A party has 10 days from the proposed decision to appeal it to the HHS Director. If no timely appeal is filed, the proposed decision becomes final agency action. If an appeal is filed, the Director has 45 days from the proposed decision to rule; failure to rule makes the proposed decision final. Judicial review is a separate Chapter 17A process in the district court specified by §235A.19(4).
• Registry retention is separate from the appeal deadline. Under §235A.18, registry data is generally sealed ten years after initial placement, subject to good-cause exceptions and subsequent reports; the perpetrator's name may be removed after five years for specified less-severe categories, or after ten years if no subsequent registry placement occurs. Sexual-abuse data has separate longer retention/expungement rules.

Key distinction

The 90-day deadline is measured from the date printed on the notice, not a universal 90 days after receipt. The current HHS form also gives special instructions for addenda. A request to correct records and a contested-case appeal are related but distinct actions; the notice says the correction and appeal timeframes are the same and advises filing an appeal to protect the hearing right if a correction request is also made.

Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 235A (§§235A.18–.19) · Iowa HHS Form 470-3243 (Rev. 04/26) · Iowa HHS — How to Appeal

Administrative hearing before registry placement

• Kansas HB 2601, 2026 Session Laws Chapter 125 (amended by Chapter 155), took effect upon publication in the statute book on July 1, 2026. It establishes a new Child Abuse and Neglect Registry and a statutory process requiring notice and an opportunity for a hearing before ordinary agency-based registry placement.
• Where DCF investigates and determines that a report is substantiated, registry placement generally must wait until the person receives proper notice and an opportunity for a hearing under the Kansas Administrative Procedure Act. The presiding officer cannot be the Secretary for Children and Families or a person designated by the Secretary.
• Before the hearing or waiver, the individual must have access to DCF records concerning the report. The individual may be represented by counsel, including counsel appointed in a related child-in-need-of-care or criminal proceeding. A waiver of the hearing right is not admissible as evidence or an admission of guilt in another administrative or judicial proceeding.
• The presiding officer must make findings on whether the evidence supports the substantiation. Registry placement under this administrative route requires a finding by clear and convincing evidence. If that standard is not met, the officer must order DCF not to place the person on the Registry.
• A person ordered placed on the Registry may appeal to district court under the Kansas Judicial Review Act within 30 days after the administrative order is entered. This is a judicial-review clock, not the initial deadline to request the administrative hearing.
• The statute does not state a separate numerical deadline in its text for the initial hearing request. DCF's January 2026 Prevention and Protection Services Policy Manual, §2570, describes the prior written fair-hearing request as due within 30 days of the finding notice, with an additional three days when mailed, and referral to the Office of Administrative Hearings. Because HB 2601 created a new statutory registry pathway and implementing transition details need to be reconciled, treat the actual notice and current DCF/OAH instructions as essential; do not present the older policy deadline as an independently confirmed universal statutory deadline for every post-July 1 case.
• The statute has exceptions for registry placement ordered by a court following specified criminal conviction or court findings. Those court-ordered routes should not be confused with the ordinary agency-substantiation administrative hearing route.
• After three years, an individual may request discretionary expungement under the statute. DCF must consider the nature and severity of the case, other substantiated reports, circumstances or new information that no longer support the finding, whether the individual was a juvenile, and steps taken to prevent recurrence. A denial may be appealed to district court within 30 days after notice of denial. The Secretary must also review a registry entry after 20 years and may expunge it using the statutory criteria.
• Existing registry rules and regulations remain subject to the statute's transition provision; the Act says that on and after July 1, 2027, existing rules and regulations adopted by the Secretary concerning a child-abuse registry become null, void and unenforceable. The Department is directed to adopt new rules. This future date does not postpone the Act's July 1, 2026 effective date.

Major verification warning

Older Kansas manuals describe a 30-day DCF fair-hearing request and a State Appeals Committee stage. HB 2601 now provides a specific statutory registry hearing, clear-and-convincing standard and direct 30-day district-court review from the hearing order. The exact current DCF notice, the post-July 2026 administrative filing mechanics, how older appeal rules operate during the transition, and the effect of Chapter 155 amendments require continued implementation-level verification. Do not copy an older Kansas deadline paragraph into a new notice without checking the actual notice and current rules.

Kansas 2026 Session Laws, Chapter 125 — HB 2601 (as amended by Chapter 155) · Kansas Secretary of State — 2026 Session Laws and effective dates · Kansas DCF — Policy §2570 (pre-new-statute context)

Indicated finding: direct OAH contested-case hearing

• Maryland uses indicated and unsubstantiated findings. Family Law §5-706.1 requires the local department to provide written notice of the finding and appeal opportunity within 30 days after completion of the investigation. An indicated finding may also result in the person being identified as responsible in the confidential centralized database under §5-714(d). Database entry and a juvenile-court adjudication are distinct.
• A person found responsible for indicated abuse/neglect—or a person alleged to have maltreated a child in a case with an indicated finding but no maltreater identified—may request a contested-case hearing by filing with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) within 60 days after receipt of the local department's notice of action.
• COMAR 07.02.26.05 requires the contested-case hearing request form and the filing fee, or a properly documented fee-waiver request. A notice is presumed received three business days after the date at the top of the form. Do not calculate the deadline from the day the person happens to open the envelope if the regulation's presumption applies.
• The hearing is generally held in the jurisdiction where the appellant resides unless the parties agree otherwise. COMAR 07.02.26.03 allows time limits to be waived for good cause, but that is not a reason to disregard the stated deadline.

Unsubstantiated finding: local conference first, then OAH

• An individual found responsible in an unsubstantiated case, or an alleged maltreater in a case with no maltreater identified, must first send the local department a written request for a supervisor conference within 60 days after receipt of the notice of action.
• The local department must schedule the conference to occur within 30 days after receiving the request and, at the conference, permit review of the redacted record. The supervisor explains the finding and basis and allows the person to request a record modification or supplement.
• Within 10 days after the conference, the department must send a written summary and, if the finding remains unchanged, the contested-case hearing request form and instructions. The person then has 60 days after receipt of the summary to file the OAH request, fee or documented fee-waiver request, and conference summary.
• If the person does not receive the conference summary within 20 days after the conference, COMAR 07.02.26.09 allows a hearing request to be sent to OAH within 80 days after the conference, with the required form and fee/waiver. The regulation contains specific requirements for proving the missing summary or a failure to schedule the conference.

Related criminal and CINA proceedings

• If criminal charges arise from the alleged abuse/neglect and remain pending, OAH must stay the hearing until final disposition. If the appellant is found guilty of any charge arising from the alleged abuse/neglect—including probation before judgment or an Alford plea under COMAR—the administrative appeal is dismissed. If found not guilty, or charges are dismissed or placed on the stet docket, OAH vacates the stay and schedules further proceedings.
• If a CINA (Child in Need of Assistance) proceeding is pending concerning the child allegedly abused/neglected by the appellant, or a child in the appellant's care, custody or household, OAH must stay the hearing until the child is found to be a CINA or the proceeding otherwise concludes. The stay is then vacated and further proceedings are scheduled.
• For unsubstantiated findings, the first local conference and second OAH hearing are separate stages with separate clocks. Do not collapse the process into a single 60-day deadline.

Maryland Family Law §5-706.1 (2026) · COMAR 07.02.26.05 — Request for Appeal · COMAR 07.02.26.06 — Criminal-charge stay · COMAR 07.02.26.07 — CINA stay · COMAR 07.02.26.08 — Unsubstantiated conference · COMAR 07.02.26.09 — Appeal after conference · Maryland DHS — Appealing CPS Findings