Fields v. Department of Human Resources Howard County Department of Social Services

In the summer of 2005, the Howard County Department of Social Services (“HCDSS”) found Clyde Fields “responsible for indicated child abuse.” 1 Fields filed an appeal of HCDSS’s decision with the Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”). The OAH ruled that Fields was twenty days late in filing his appeal and, due to his late filing, dismissed the appeal. Fields filed a petition for judicial review in the Circuit Court for Howard County. The circuit court affirmed the OAH’s order of dismissal.

Fields advances the argument in this appeal that the procedures adopted by HCDSS that are set forth in…