If your regional center denies, cuts, or ends a service, you can appeal. If you act fast, you can usually keep your current services while the appeal is decided. That’s called aid paid pending.
This guide covers appeals for regional center clients age 3 and older. Early Start (birth to 3) has a separate process.
At a glance
Two deadlines that matter most
Find your deadlines
Your deadlines count from the day you received your Notice of Action (NOA), not the date printed on it. Enter your dates below to see them.
Find your appeal deadlines
Enter two dates from your Notice of Action. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.
This is a planning tool, not legal advice. DDS must receive your appeal, or it must be postmarked, by these dates. File as early as you can, and keep proof of when you sent it.
When your notice “arrives”
At your IPP meeting, the regional center asks how you want to get notices: email, regular mail, or certified mail. Your received date is the day the email arrived, the day the letter arrived, or the day you signed for certified mail.
Worth knowingIf the regional center thinks you agreed to a change, it sends a Good Faith Belief letter instead of a Notice of Action. If you didn’t agree, tell the regional center right away, and it must send you a Notice of Action. You can also appeal without any notice at all. See the DDS fact sheets on mutual consent and appealing without an NOA.
How to file
- Online, or with form DS 1821 by mail, email, or fax. DDS appeal forms and online filing
- Write the date you received the NOA and the effective date on your request. DDS uses them to decide whether your services continue.
- Your regional center must give you the form and help you fill it out if you ask.
The appeal stages
You can use any or all of these steps, and attend by phone, video, or in person.
- Informal meetingOptionalHeld within 10 days of your appeal request. You get a written decision within 5 days.Keeping services: Services continue until 10 days after you receive the decision. To keep going, tell the regional center and DDS within those 10 days.
- MediationOptionalHeld within 30 days of your appeal request, with a neutral mediator.Keeping services: Services continue until 10 days after you receive the mediation agreement, or 10 days after mediation ends with no agreement. To keep going, tell the mediator, regional center, and DDS within 10 days.
- Fair hearingYour rightHeld within 50 days of your appeal request, before an administrative law judge. The final decision comes within 10 business days, and no more than 80 days after your request.Keeping services: Services continue until 10 days after you receive the hearing decision.
- ReconsiderationIf there’s an errorAsk in writing within 15 days, counting from the date on the decision, not the day it arrives. It’s for fixing a clerical error or a mistake of fact or law.Keeping services: Services continue until 10 days after the reconsideration or new hearing decision.
- Superior courtLast stepYou can file in superior court within 180 days of receiving the final decision.Keeping services: The court decides whether your services continue.
FlagKeeping your services isn’t automatic all the way through. After the informal meeting, mediation, or hearing, your services stop about 10 days after you get the result unless you move to the next step. To continue, email appealrequest@dds.ca.gov or call 833-538-3723, and tell your regional center too.
Get help with your appeal
You don’t have to do this alone, and free help exists. Weighing whether to hire someone? See IHSS Appeal Help: Hire an Advocate or Represent Yourself? The same questions apply to regional center appeals.
Where to get help
- File your appealOnline, or with form DS 1821 by mail, email, or fax.DDS appeal forms and online filing →
- ACRC appeals packetAlta California Regional Center’s copy of the state’s Lanterman Act appeals information packet.Download the packet (PDF) →
- ACRC rights and appealsAppeals, rights complaints, and advocacy contacts for Alta clients. ACRC: 916-978-6400.ACRC Rights, Advocacy & Appeals →
- Free advocate (OCRA)Every regional center has a Clients’ Rights Advocate. Northern CA: 800-390-7032. Southern CA: 866-833-6712.OCRA brochure (via ACRC) →
Related reading
Sources
- DDS — Aid Paid Pending Fact Sheet (PDF)30-day deadline and effective date; how NOA receipt date is counted; when services end at each stage; Good Faith Belief letters; DDS contacts
- DDS — Appeals Process Flow Chart (PDF)60-day filing deadline; 10/30/50-day stage timelines; decision within 80 days; reconsideration; superior court
- DDS — Lanterman Act Appeals Information Packet (PDF)Informal meeting decision within 5 days; OCRA phone numbers
- DDS — Fair Hearings & Complaint ProcessOnline filing; DS 1821 and other forms; fact sheets
- Alta California Regional Center — Appeals policyLanterman appeals process; ACRC copy of the appeals packet
- Alta California Regional Center — Rights, Advocacy & AppealsOCRA brochure; rights complaints; ombudsperson and DRC contacts
DDS and the Lanterman Act are the primary authorities. Where DDS publications differ, we follow the most recent fact sheet. Your Notice of Action and the instructions in each decision apply to you.
About this article
This guide explains how to appeal a regional center decision in California for clients age 3 and older, and how to keep your current services while you do. Deadlines and rules come from the Department of Developmental Services (DDS); help resources include materials from Alta California Regional Center.
IHSS Connect is an independent, free registry for families and caregivers. We are not part of DDS or any regional center, and this article is general information, not legal advice.
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