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July 1, 2026

164 Local agencies are notified of a parent’s appeal through the Fair Hearing Tracker in CWW and/or appeal notice sent by the Division of Hearing and Appeals.

An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decides if the local agency’s findings and calculations were correct. If the local agency’s determination is upheld, the local agency and parent will receive a decision dismissing the appeal. If the parent’s appeal is upheld, the ruling remands the matter to the local agency to rescind or recalculate the overpayment amount. The local agency must carry out the remand order within 10 calendar days.

For more information on the parent appeal process, please refer to the Child Care Program Integrity Resource Library.

This section last updated 12/1/2023

Section 21.1.1 Parent Overpayment Appeals Overpayment appeal requests must be submitted to the Division of Hearings and Appeals (DHA) within 45 days of the date of the notice. Appeal requests can be written or verbal. If a verbal request is made to the local agency, the request must be submitted in writing by the local agency and signed by the petitioner. Local agencies who receive a hearing request must immediately date-stamp the request and forward it to DHA.

This section last updated 10/1/2023

Section 21.1.2 Parent IPV Appeals Parents must submit appeal requests in writing to the Division of Hearings and Appeals (DHA) within 30 calendar days of the date of the Intentional Program Violation (IPV) Notice. The request must include a copy of the IPV notice. Requests for a hearing sent to any entity other than DHA do not constitute a proper request.

Parents may continue to receive benefits while the IPV appeal is pending.

This section last updated 10/1/2023

Chapter 22 Collections

Section 22.1 Parent Overpayment Recovery Once an overpayment is established, local agencies coordinate with the Public Assistance Collection Section (PACS) at the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to recover any improper payments. Collections will occur for an overpayment due to an administrative error, parent error, provider error, or Intentional Program Violation (IPV).

To begin the repayment process, agency workers must: