🛑 Administrative Appeals Were Secretly Frozen—And No One Will Admit It

Earlier this year, I called Maine’s Administrative Hearings Office to get clarity about the long delays in my OCFS investigative appeal. What I was told floored me. A staff member—whose voice I recorded—admitted that all administrative appeals involving OCFS had been on hold for an extended period of time, citing a new internal directive to prioritize MaineCare (Medicare) appeals instead.

Let that sink in:Without telling the public—without notifying directly affected parents like me—the State of Maine placed a quiet freeze on appeals related to child welfare investigations. No letters. No announcements. No public memos. Just silence.

I couldn’t have known this unless someone inside said it. And they did.

I now have a recorded phone conversation where this exact admission was made. Yet as you’ll see in the email trail that followed, once I began asking why, every official I reached out to suddenly had nothing to say.

📩 A Pattern of Stonewalling

Since April, I’ve been asking clear and respectful questions. Here are just a few:

• When was the decision made to pause OCFS investigative appeals?

• Why were MaineCare appeals prioritized?

• Why weren’t parents informed?

• Was there a memo, policy, or directive authorizing this?
  

No one has answered.No one has acknowledged the recording.No one has explained why an entire class of due process rights were quietly suspended.

In response to these questions, I was met with dismissiveness, avoidance, and bureaucratic deflection. I was even told by an official that they "don’t want to go back and forth." But what they really don’t want to do is be held accountable.

⌛ A Year Lost—And No One Wants to Own That

Let’s be honest: This wasn’t just a scheduling hiccup. It was a year-long denial of due process for me and my children. While I was waiting for my right to be heard, OCFS continued making decisions about my life and my sons’ well-being—without giving me a chance to challenge or correct anything.

That year of silence and delay had consequences:

• I couldn’t timely present evidence or call witnesses.

• I was denied access to critical case records.

• I missed key intervention points where I could have protected my kids.

• And most of all, I was forced to endure ongoing harm—silently—while the system pretended nothing was wrong.
  

By the time my hearing was finally scheduled for July, it was too late to undo the damage, but not too late to demand answers.

🤐 Deflection Instead of Transparency

When I followed up in writing on June 25, I was told that my concerns weren't “pertinent” to the hearing. When I pushed back—calmly and thoroughly—explaining that the delays had everything to do with how I was able to participate and defend myself, I was told to bring it up during the hearing.

But here’s the thing: I shouldn’t have to go through a formal legal hearing just to get basic information about a systemic decision that affected hundreds—maybe thousands—of parents across Maine.

If the state can pause appeals without explanation, delay cases without notice, and silence those who ask about it, then due process doesn’t exist—it’s just a talking point.

⚖️ Where Is the Oversight?

This issue doesn’t just impact me. It raises serious legal and ethical concerns about:

• Government transparency

• The right to a timely hearing

• Discriminatory prioritization of medical over family-related cases

• The trauma inflicted on families who waited without answers
  

It also raises questions about the Office of the Child Welfare Ombudsman, which I cc’d in my emails—yet received no meaningful response from.

I had to ask three different times just to find out when a simple scheduling packet had been mailed. If they won’t even tell me that, how can I expect honesty about a year-long procedural blackout?

📎 The Record Speaks for Itself

Everything I’ve written here is supported by emails, recordings, and documented outreach. You don’t have to take my word for it—read the entire thread and timeline here:

🔗 letsgetgrowing.org/justiceformichaels

If you’ve gone through something similar—or have also been stonewalled by DHHS or OCFS—I want to hear from you. We need to expose this pattern, together.