Howard County Department of Social Services v. Linda J.

Linda J., 1 appellee, was charged with two counts of second degree assault for striking her eight-year-old foster daughter with a belt, causing welts to form on her forearm and thigh. Following an investigation of this incident, the Howard County Department of Social Services, appellant, found Linda J. “responsible” for “indicated child abuse.” That meant that Ms. J.’s name would be placed in the agency’s central registry of suspected child abusers. Challenging the Department’s finding, Linda J. requested a “contested case hearing.”

Declining to rule on that request until the criminal charges…