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Effective: 10/15/2024

G2.3 Service Complaints

Legal Authority

Introduction

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Certain matters that occur during a case are not appealable through an administrative hearing. In these instances, a client may make a written complaint about such a matter. This is known as a service complaint.​​​​

Practice Guidance

  • Circumstances that are not appealable as described in SOP G2.1 Service Appeals or SOP G2.2 CAPTA Appeals, but may be addressed through the service complaint process are: 
    • Decision to deny: 
      • Approval of an individual seeking to provide foster or adoptive services in accordance with 922 KAR 1:350 or 922 KAR 1:310; or 
      • A caretaker relative approval as a kinship caregiver if the caretaker relative fails to meet the provisions of 922 KAR 1:130, Section 5; 
    • Removal of a foster child from a resource home if the resource home parent or another individual residing in the home has been found by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS/Cabinet) to have abused, neglected, or exploited a child and the: 
      • Resource home parent or other individual waived the right to appeal the substantiated incident; 
    • Removal of a child from a resource home for the purpose of: 
      • Uniting or reuniting the child with a sibling at the next placement; 
    • Closure of a resource home if the Cabinet has not placed a child in the home within the previous two (2) years; 
    • Closure of a resource home according to terms of the contract between the Cabinet and the resource home; 
    • Any situation by which state or federal law requires adjustment of a payment or grant, except when a payment or grant computation is incorrect; 
    • Decision to not recommend a resource home parent in accordance with 922 KAR 1:350, Section 9(12) for enrollment in specialized training as an emergency shelter, medically fragile, specialized medically fragile or care plus resource home; 
    • A complaint of discrimination. 1​

Procedure

​​The SRA or designee:
  1. Provides a written response to the complainant within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of a request for resolution;
  2. Submits a monthly complaint tracking system report to the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) commissioner or designee, which documents the: 
    1. Number of service complaints; 
    2. The nature of each complaint; and 
    3. The region’s response to each complaint.

Footnotes

  1. ​​These are to be filed​ with the Cabinet's Equal Opportunity Office.

Documents

Revisions