Nevada, New Hampshire and New York: Focused Source Audit

Substantiated disposition and Central Registry

• NRS 432B.305 defines a substantiated disposition as an agency determination, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the alleged abuse or neglect occurred and was committed by the person named. The statutory dispositions are substantiated, unsubstantiated, unable to locate/contact, and administrative closure; the last two are treated as unsubstantiated for all purposes.
• Under NRS 432B.315, when an agency assigns a substantiated disposition, it must send written notice to the person responsible for the child's welfare who is named as the alleged perpetrator. The notice must state the substantiated disposition, the agency's intention to place the person's name in the Central Registry, and the right to request an administrative appeal.
• Deadline: NRS 432B.317(1) requires the person to submit a written appeal request to the child-welfare agency within 15 days after the date the agency sent the notice. The trigger is the send date, not receipt. The agency must receive a timely request within that period to trigger the statutory hearing obligation. Do not treat this as 15 days after opening the letter.
• A timely appeal requires a hearing before a hearing officer under NRS Chapter 233B, subject to the statutory stay described below. If no timely appeal is submitted, the agency must place the person's name in the Central Registry. If the hearing officer affirms the substantiation, registry placement follows; if the hearing officer rejects it, the agency must not place the person's name in the Registry.
• Related juvenile-court case: if the agency receives written notification that an adjudicatory hearing under NRS 432B.530 is pending and arose from the same incident, the administrative appeal is stayed. The stay ends when the adjudicatory hearing reaches a final determination, or when it is dismissed or terminated without a final determination. A final determination that the child was in need of protection creates a conclusive presumption that the substantiation will be affirmed and the person placed on the Registry.
• The hearing officer's decision is a final decision for judicial-review purposes under NRS 432B.317. The hearing is conducted under Nevada's Administrative Procedure Act, NRS Chapter 233B. The statute does not create a second, separate administrative reconsideration clock in the cited provision.
• NRS 432B.310 limits reporting to the Central Registry to substantiated dispositions. This is a finding/registry process, not a criminal conviction. The appeal right described here belongs to the named person receiving the statutory notice, not to every family member involved in the investigation.
• Nevada also has a separate statutory route for reports arising in public schools under NRS 392.335–392.345. That school-based process has its own notice and 15-day appeal provisions. It should not be silently conflated with the general child-welfare route in NRS Chapter 432B.
• DCFS policy FPO 1607D (dated December 6, 2019) identifies county-specific contacts: Clark County Department of Family Services, Washoe County Human Services Agency, and DCFS for all other counties. Because that contact sheet is dated 2019, the actual notice and current agency directory should control contact details.

Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 432B — especially §§432B.305, .310, .315 and .317 · Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 432B · Nevada DCFS FPO 1607D — appeal-right inquiry contacts (2019) · Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 392 — separate school-based process

Administrative founded determination versus court finding

• New Hampshire uses a founded determination where the Department finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a child was abused or neglected. The rules distinguish a Department administrative finding from a founded finding made by a court. A founded report may include multiple founded allegations and may be categorized as problem resolved, services only, or court action.
• Current He-C 6430.04 (amended effective May 20, 2025) requires written notice before the person's name is entered on the Central Registry. The notice must identify the nature of the report, court-finding date if applicable, reasons for the founded determination, responsible person, access-to-records right, challenge rights, and expungement petition right.
• Administrative route: if the founded determination was made by the Department rather than a court, the person may submit an administrative appeal request within 30 days after receipt of the notice. The notice must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address, or personally served with signed receipt. Failure to request a hearing within 30 days after receipt waives the administrative appeal.
• The current rule provides the governing 30-day receipt trigger. Older DCYF Policy 1215 (effective July 2017) describes the appeal request as postmarked within 30 calendar days after confirmation of service and directs the form to the CPS supervisor at the district office that issued the notice. That policy also describes AAU handling and a pre-registry appeal. Because the policy is older and its phrasing is not identical to the 2025 rule, the current regulation and the actual notice control; the 2017 manual should be treated as procedural background, not used to replace the current rule's receipt trigger.
• Where the finding was made by a court, He-C 6430.04 instead identifies an appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court within 30 days of the final dispositional order, under RSA 169-C:28. An appeal does not suspend the court's order unless the court so orders. A person who consented in court or signed a non-court agreement waiving challenge rights is not entitled to treat the ordinary administrative appeal as still open.
• Central Registry placement follows satisfaction or waiver of due process: the rule requires notice before entry, and the older DCYF Policy 1265 describes registry readiness after no timely appeal, dismissal/withdrawal/default of an appeal, an AAU decision upholding the finding, or a qualifying court order. Do not assume that a pending administrative challenge and a final court adjudication have identical consequences.
• Founded reports are listed indefinitely, subject to a separate expungement petition. Current He-C 6430.08 requires a petition to the New Hampshire circuit court of jurisdiction; generally no petition may be brought within one year after the date the person became eligible for registry entry. If denied, another petition cannot be brought more frequently than every three years. This is post-entry relief, not a substitute for the initial 30-day appeal.
• The person's case-record access is separately identified in the notice under RSA 170-G:8-a. The rules do not make every parent, child, or other family member a party to the responsible person's appeal.

Currentness and conflict note

The 2025 He-C 6430 rule is the controlling current source located for the 30-day notice challenge. DCYF Policy 1215 is a 2017 document; its postmark/confirmation-of-service language and operational steps are not identical to the current rule's receipt trigger. The page preserves this distinction rather than blending the two. The broader He-C 200 default appeal deadline is 30 days from notice issuance unless a specific statute or rule supplies a different trigger; here He-C 6430.04 supplies the specific receipt-based rule.

Official New Hampshire Administrative Rules — He-C 6430.04 and .08 · DCYF Policy 1215 — Administrative Appeals (2017) · DCYF Policy 1265 — Registry entry process · New Hampshire RSA Chapter 169-C — including §169-C:28 · He-C 200 — Department appeals procedures

Indicated SCR report and amendment process

• New York's Statewide Central Register (SCR) uses the categories indicated and unfounded. An indicated report is an administrative child-protection determination, not itself a criminal conviction or a Family Court adjudication. The subject of an indicated report may request that the record be amended.
• Under Social Services Law §422(8)(a)(i), after the investigation is complete, the subject must request amendment no later than 90 days after being notified that the report is indicated. The request asks the Commissioner/OCFS to amend the SCR record. The 90-day period is the deadline to request amendment; it is not a universal deadline to file a fair-hearing request directly with an administrative tribunal.
• After receiving the amendment request, OCFS asks the local child protective service for its records. The local service generally has no more than 20 working days to forward the material. OCFS then has no more than 15 working days after receiving the local records to review them, subject to the statute's terms and any stay. If OCFS does not amend the report within 90 days after receiving the subject's amendment request, it must schedule a fair hearing.
• Where the Family Court has a pending Article 10 proceeding based on the same allegations, the amendment request is stayed until that proceeding is disposed of. A Family Court finding that the respondent committed the abuse/neglect creates an irrebuttable presumption for the corresponding allegation at the fair hearing. If the petition is withdrawn with prejudice, dismissed, or the court finds for the respondent on the merits, the statute provides an irrebuttable presumption that the allegation was not proven by a fair preponderance.
• At the fair hearing, the investigating child protective service bears the burden of proof. The issue is whether the subject committed the act or acts giving rise to the indicated report by a fair preponderance of the evidence. If that burden is not met, OCFS must amend the record to unfounded and direct the local service to amend its records. Where the hearing also considers employment/licensing disclosure relevance, the statutory issue may include whether the conduct is relevant and reasonably related to the covered employment, regular and substantial contact with children, or licensing decision.
• If the report is not amended to unfounded, it may remain indicated, but the separate employment/licensing disclosure restrictions in Social Services Law §424-a matter. The statute does not mean every indicated report is automatically disclosed to every employer or licensing body. The inquiry and relevance conditions in §424-a apply.
• New York's statutory process is distinct from a local agency's investigation or a Family Court case. The subject's right to access records is governed by the statute and applicable confidentiality protections. A request to amend may also be used to seek correction of an inaccurate or improperly maintained SCR record; it is not a generalized appeal right for every family member.
• New York City ACS's public information sheet tells NYC subjects to submit a written request to OCFS within 90 days of the date on the Notice of Indication, including the Notice of Indication or its case/intake identifiers, and provides the Statewide Central Register mailing address. This is a local agency's practical instruction; the statewide statute controls and other local districts may provide different instructions. Follow the actual NOI and current OCFS directions.

Separate routes that must not be merged

Section 422(8) governs the subject's request to amend an indicated report and the subsequent fair hearing. Section 424-a governs disclosure of indicated reports to specified provider and licensing agencies, including when an amendment request has expired or a hearing has been finally determined. Unfounded-report sealing/expungement rules are separate. A local agency's appeal leaflet should not be used to imply that the fair hearing begins automatically when the 90-day amendment-request period expires.

New York Social Services Law §422 (current revision June 19, 2026) · New York Social Services Law §424-a · NYC ACS — Your Rights When a Case is Indicated Against You