IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Carbon County Children and Youth :

Services, :

Petitioner :

:

v. : No. 1 C.D. 2018

: SUBMITTED: September 12, 2018

Department of Human Services, :

Respondent : CASE SEALED

BEFORE: HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

HONORABLE ELLEN CEISLER, Judge

HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY

SENIOR JUDGE LEADBETTER FILED: September 26, 2018

Carbon County Children and Youth Services (CYS) petitions for 

review of a December 19, 2017, order of the Secretary of the Department of Human 

Services (Department) denying as untimely CYS’s application for reconsideration 

of the November 21, 2017, decision of the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals (Bureau) 

granting the request to expunge indicated reports of child abuse against alleged 

perpetrators C.S. and A.S. As a threshold matter, we note that CYS’s January 2, 

2018, appeal was timely from the denial of its application for reconsideration, but 

was not timely from the November 21 order on the merits.1 Therefore the only issue 

before us is whether the Department abused its discretion in denying reconsideration. 

 

1 A party that fails to file a petition for review of the Bureau’s final order within the thirty-day 

appeal period loses the ability to challenge the merits of the decision. See Keith v. Dep’t of Pub. 

Welfare, 551 A.2d 333, 335 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).
2

Because we agree that CYS’s application for reconsideration was untimely, the 

denial was proper and, therefore, we affirm.

The relevant background of this matter is as follows. On November 21, 

2017, the Bureau issued an order sustaining the appeals of the alleged perpetrators 

and directing the Department to expunge the indicated reports of child abuse against 

them. In addition to indicating that any appeal to the Commonwealth Court had to 

be filed within thirty days from November 21, the order provided as follows:

Either party to this proceeding has fifteen (15) 

calendar days from the date of this decision to request 

reconsideration by the Secretary of the Department. . . . 

The application/petition shall be addressed to the 

Secretary, but delivered to the Director, Bureau of 

Hearings and Appeals, P.O. Box 2675, Harrisburg, 

Pennsylvania, 17105-2675, and must be received in the 

Bureau . . . within fifteen (15) calendar days from the date 

of this Order. This action does not stop the time within

which an appeal must be filed to Commonwealth Court.

(November 21, 2017, Order) (emphasis in original). Accordingly, with the 

November 21 mailing date triggering the beginning of the fifteen-day period, the 

application for reconsideration had to be received in the Bureau by December 6.2

Subsequently, CYS mailed an application for reconsideration to the 

Bureau on December 5, 2017, attaching a certificate of mailing reflecting that date. 

(Application for Reconsideration, Certificate of Mailing; Reproduced Record “R.R.” 

at 76a.) The Bureau received CYS’s application for reconsideration on December 7 

and time stamped it accordingly. (Id. at p. 1; R.R. at 72a.) On December 19, the 

Secretary denied CYS’s application for reconsideration as untimely. On appeal, 

 

2 Colonial Manor Pers. Care Boarding Home v. Dep’t of Pub. Welfare, 551 A.2d 347, 350

(Pa. Cmwlth. 1988) (holding that the mailing date triggers the beginning of the appeal period).
3

CYS argues that its December 5 certificate of mailing rendered its application for 

reconsideration timely. Its position is without merit.

Section 35.241(a) of the General Rules of Administrative Practice and

Procedure provides that an application for reconsideration may be filed by a party to 

a proceeding “within 15 days, or another period as may be expressly provided by 

statute applicable to the proceeding, after the issuance of an adjudication or other 

final order by the agency.” 1 Pa. Code § 35.241(a). Additionally, Section 31.11 of 

the same Rules provides:

Pleadings, submittals or other documents required or 

permitted to be filed under this part, the regulations of the 

agency or any other provision of law shall be received for 

filing at the office of the agency within the time limits, if 

any, for the filing. The date of receipt at the office of the 

agency and not the date of deposit in the mails is 

determinative.

1 Pa. Code § 31.11 (emphasis added). See also Colonial Manor Pers. Care Boarding 

Home v. Dep’t of Pub. Welfare, 551 A.2d 347, 350 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988) (holding that

the day upon which the petition is received is controlling for purposes of time 

computation for an application for reconsideration). CYS could not rely upon the 

date it mailed its application for reconsideration to establish its timeliness. 

Accordingly the Department’s denial was appropriate, and certainly not an abuse of 

discretion and, therefore, we affirm.

_____________________________________

BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,

Senior Judge
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Carbon County Children and Youth :

Services, :

Petitioner :

:

v. : No. 1 C.D. 2018

:

Department of Human Services, :

Respondent : CASE SEALED

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 26th day of September, 2018, the order of the Secretary 

of the Department of Human Services is hereby AFFIRMED.

_____________________________________

BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,

Senior Judge