ARC of Baldwin County Withdraws Lawsuit as Administrative Appeal Moves Forward

ARC of Baldwin County's lawsuit against the state has drawn criticism from Judge William Scully, whose daughter was an ARC client, as a motion to dismiss remains pending.

By James Bullard

July 23, 2026 · 8:30 pm Updated October 31, 2026 6 min read

ARC of Baldwin County is asking a circuit judge to overturn the state’s decision to strip its certification, and the fight over the shutdown of the nonprofit’s group homes and day programs is now drawing public criticism from a Baldwin County judge whose own daughter relied on the organization for 15 years. The nonprofit, which provided housing, day programming and other services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at three centers in Robertsdale, Loxley and Foley, filed a notice of appeal and request for judicial review on July 6 in Baldwin County Circuit Court. The filing asks the court to block the state’s decertification, stop the relocation of ARC’s clients to other providers, and require a hearing where the organization can contest the findings behind the state’s action.

The lawsuit follows a July 1 letter from the Alabama Department of Mental Health ordering ARC of Baldwin County to shut down immediately over what the agency described as serious health and safety concerns. In that letter, ADMH Commissioner Kimberly Boswell said the agency had conducted an investigative review of the organization between January and March that turned up a range of violations, including a failure to follow incident reporting requirements, inadequate supervision, staff training failures, nursing oversight problems and medical care compliance failures. Boswell wrote that those failures had resulted in “critical incidents and death.” Under the decertification order, residents whose care is paid for through Medicaid waivers are being relocated to other certified providers, and ARC’s day programs were required to close.

Unless its appeal succeeds, all of the organization’s services ended as of July 15.

ARC Withdraws Its Circuit Court Appeal

Update, Aug. 3: ARC of Baldwin County has moved to dismiss its own circuit court lawsuit against the state. On Friday, Aug. 1, the nonprofit asked Judge Byron Brackin to dismiss its petition asking him to review the Alabama Department of Mental Health’s decision to decertify and shut the organization down.

Attorney T. Deven Moore, who represents ARC of Baldwin County, said the circuit court case was filed as a precaution because it was unclear at the time whether ADMH would grant the nonprofit an administrative hearing to contest the decertification.

“Our circuit court Notice of Appeal was filed because it appeared, at the time, ADMH was unwilling to offer us any due process (most notably the opportunity for an administrative appeal),” Moore said in an email. “Since then, the state has moved forward in granting us a hearing. Chuck (Charles) Malone, a lawyer out of Tuscaloosa has been appointed administrative law judge and we have a pre hearing conference set for this Wednesday (Aug. 5).”

With the administrative appeal now moving forward, ARC of Baldwin County will make its case for recertification through that process instead. As of early August, the appeal hearing is being treated as closed to the public, though Malone has not issued a final ruling on that question.

Moore said he intends to raise the issue again at Wednesday’s pre-hearing conference. “No date yet on the appeal hearing itself and I have no idea what the state would say about opening those proceedings to the public,” Moore said. “Though, I do like the idea of asking.”

ARC of Baldwin County has roughly three months remaining, under the timeline triggered by its early July appeal filing, to have its administrative hearing scheduled. Once that hearing concludes, ADMH’s final decision can still be appealed to Baldwin County Circuit Court if the nonprofit disagrees with the outcome, effectively preserving the same judicial review it is now voluntarily dismissing.

An ADMH spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the administrative hearing date has been set or on the motion to dismiss the circuit court case. As of 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 3, Judge Brackin had not yet ruled on the dismissal motion.

A Judge’s Personal Stake

Among those criticizing the state’s handling of the closure is Baldwin County Judge William Scully. In an interview in Bay Minette, Scully said his 40-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, lived in an ARC of Baldwin County apartment for 15 years. Elizabeth has a genetic disorder and functions at roughly the level of a two-year-old, Scully said, and he credits ARC’s staff with treating her well throughout her time there.

“We always had people who we thought were concerned about her and loved her,” Scully said. Scully stressed that he is speaking as a frustrated father, not in his capacity as a judge or on behalf of ARC of Baldwin County. He believes the Alabama Department of Mental Health denied the organization its procedural due process rights and a chance to correct any deficiencies before ordering the shutdown. “I think ARC Baldwin County has done a great job for our community,” Scully said. “It’s been a good citizen in our community for 50 years.”

ARC’s Case: No Warning Before the Decertification Letter

The court filing alleges that ARC of Baldwin County’s executive director, its board members, staff and the families of clients received no advance warning that ADMH intended to decertify the organization before the July 1 letter arrived. According to the lawsuit, neither ARC, its more than 200 employees, nor the families of the more than 90 people it served had any indication beforehand that the state was considering shutting the nonprofit down.

The filing also claims ADMH did not follow its own procedures, arguing the department failed to provide a certified copy of the recommendation for decertification to the organization’s executive director and board members before acting.

T. Deven Moore, an attorney representing ARC of Baldwin County, laid out the organization’s position in a July 2 response to ADMH. Moore said the organization has never received any substantial findings of abuse or neglect and disputed that any deaths or critical incidents can be attributed to care provided by ARC of Baldwin County. According to Moore, the organization did not receive an investigative report from the state until the July 1 decertification letter itself arrived.

Scully raised a similar objection, arguing the department invoked emergency powers it had no basis to use. “They chose to jump the gun with this alleged emergency process, which is provided for in the regulations,” Scully said. “I just think that they are abusing that power. The commissioner has abused that power.”

The State’s Response: Case Filed Too Early

ADMH filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on July 17, disputing ARC’s legal claims. In the motion, the department argued it had provided all required notices and had properly followed its own procedures in reaching the decertification decision. State attorneys also contended that ARC’s court challenge was premature, noting that ARC has already requested an administrative hearing and that the appeal process is underway; judicial review, the state argued, is not appropriate until that administrative hearing concludes and the decertification has been upheld.

The motion to dismiss is pending before Judge Byron Brackin. As of July 22, no hearing had been scheduled in the case, and the state’s motion remained unresolved.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health declined to comment on Scully’s criticisms of its handling of the closure.

Families Left to Adjust

Scully said his daughter has since successfully transitioned to another provider, but he said other families have told him they are struggling with the disruption caused by ARC’s closure. “I’m unhappy with the way that our kids have been treated,” Scully said.

A Separate Track: The Administrative Appeal

Apart from the circuit court case, ARC of Baldwin County has a separate administrative appeal underway with ADMH challenging the decertification itself. An ADMH attorney initially said during a July 15 public meeting in Fairhope that the appeal hearing would be open to the public.

A department representative later said legal counsel had advised that the hearing will in fact be closed to the public. No date for that hearing has been announced.

The circuit court case and the administrative appeal are proceeding on separate tracks, meaning the underlying question of whether ARC of Baldwin County’s decertification was justified could ultimately be decided in either forum, or both, before the matter is resolved.

How provider certification works

The Alabama Department of Mental Health certifies the community providers that serve Alabamians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and its Division of Developmental Disabilities oversees the Medicaid home- and community-based waiver programs that pay for most of those services. A provider that loses its certification can no longer serve clients under those waivers, which is why ARC’s residents and day-program participants were moved to other certified providers.