A. Program complaints may be made by a member of a household, an authorized representative, or any other person. This does not include complaints alleging discrimination or those that can be pursued through a fair hearing. MDHS provides SNAP applicants and/or recipients an opportunity to appeal adverse administrative decisions and provide supporting documentation challenging the adverse or noncompliant action. Please refer to Title 18 of the Administrative Code, Part 23, Programmatic Administrative Agency Appeal Hearing Policy, Chapter 3.
B. Case information must not be released to anyone other than the household or the authorized representative, unless the household or authorized representative has provided approval in writing.
C. All complaints are promptly reviewed to determine if the county's actions were correct.
D. Such complaints may involve program policy, procedures and customer service.
E. MDHS must inform participants, potential participants and other interested parties of the complaint process.
1.
Complaint Review: MDHS must maintain a record of said complaints, their disposition and will review those records at least annually to ascertain whether there is a pattern of issues that may need to be resolved through further training. The results of this review must be provided to the Performance Reporting System Coordinator and, if appropriate, be included in the State Corrective Action Plan. FNS shall monitor state compliance with these requirements through the Performance Reporting System.
2.
Complaints to Public Officials: When a SNAP applicant, recipient, or authorized representative makes a complaint about the agency in writing to a public official, the public official in turn will usually provide the letter to the agency. By providing facts about its complaint to the public official, the SNAP household is implying that it has provided consent to the agency to include that information when replying to the public official. When preparing a response, the agency should only include information that is necessary to explain the agency's position or action. The household/authorized representative may request a fair hearing if they are not satisfied with the results of the complaint review and outcome. Please refer to Title 18 of the Administrative Code, Part 23, Programmatic Administrative Agency Appeal Hearing Policy, Chapter 3.
3.
Regional Office Responsibility: Individuals may file a complaint with the appropriate FNS Regional Office. For the state of Mississippi, complaints should be directed to the Southeast Regional Office, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, 77 Forsyth Street SW, Suite 112, Atlanta, GA 30303-3427.
