(a) The department shall implement workload standards and a training program for employees who supervise the care of children committed to the supervision or custody of the department under AS 47.10, work with families to prevent the removal of a child from the child's home under AS 47.10, or investigate reports of harm under AS 47.17. The department shall prepare a staffing report under (b) of this section if the department is unable
(1) to employ the number of qualified employees necessary to ensure that
(A) the department reasonably and safely minimizes the time a child is not in a permanent living arrangement or under a permanent guardianship;
(B) a child is not removed from the child's home when it is possible and in the child's best interest for the department to work with the child's family to prevent the removal of the child from the child's home;
(C) each child is placed in a permanent home not more than 24 months after the date the child is first removed from the child's home;
(2) to meet best practices standards set by the department requiring the employment of mentors for employees who supervise the care of children committed to the supervision or custody of the department under AS 47.10, work with families to prevent the removal of a child from the child's home under AS 47.10, or investigate reports of harm under AS 47.17;
(3) for a new employee who supervises the care of a child committed to the supervision or custody of the department under AS 47.10, works with families to prevent the removal of a child from the child's home under AS 47.10, or investigates reports of harm under AS 47.17, to
(A) provide a minimum of six weeks of training unless the department finds that the new employee has sufficient experience to justify a shorter training period;
(B) limit the employee's workload as follows:
(i) before the beginning of an employee's fourth month of work with the department, the employee may supervise not more than six families;
(ii) after the beginning of the employee's fourth month of work but before the end of the employee's sixth month of work with the department, the employee may supervise not more than 12 families;
(iii) when an employee supervises families in a region where travel distances negatively affect the employee's ability to supervise families and the employee has worked for the department for less than 12 months, the employee may not supervise the maximum number of families provided under (i) and (ii) of this subparagraph; and
(4) for an employee, other than a new employee, who supervises the care of children committed to the supervision or custody of the department under AS 47.10, works with families to prevent the removal of a child from the child's home under AS 47.10, or investigates reports of harm under AS 47.17, to ensure that the average statewide caseload is not more than 13 families for each worker.
(b) A staffing report prepared as a result of the department's inability to meet the training and workload standards in (a) of this section must be included in the department's annual report to the legislature required under AS 18.05.020. The department shall explain in the staffing report the reasons the department has not been able to meet the standards and provide the following information:
(1) the number of employees who vacated positions during the reporting period;
(2) the number of funded positions that are vacant;
(3) a description of efforts made to recruit and retain employees;
(4) if the department determines additional employee positions are necessary to meet the standards, the number and cost of the additional positions;
(5) if the department determines additional funding is necessary to meet the standards, the amount and purpose of the additional funding; and
(6) the effects on a child and the child's family of the department's inability to meet the standards.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the department is immune from suit under this section if the department was unable to meet the workload standards and adjusted workload standards because of a lack of sufficient appropriations or because the department's efforts to recruit or retain employees did not result in an adequate number of qualified applicants to meet the workload standards, as outlined in the staffing report.
(d) The division of the department with responsibility over the custody of children shall prepare and make available to the legislature an annual report on employee recruitment and retention, including a five-year plan, for the division. Not later than November 15 of each year, the department shall deliver the report to the senate secretary and the chief clerk of the house of representatives and notify the legislature that the report is available. The report prepared under this subsection is separate from the annual report to the legislature required under AS 18.05.020 and must include, for the previous 12 months,
(1) the number of frontline social workers employed by the division, the annual average turnover rate of the workers, and the average caseload of the workers on January 1 and July 1 of that year;
(2) the number of children removed from their homes;
(3) the achievement of success measured by the following:
(A) rate of family reunification;
(B) average length of time children spent in custody of the department;
(C) rate of placement with an adult family member or family friend;
(D) number of children placed in a permanent living arrangement with a guardian or biological or adoptive parent;
(E) number of children released from the custody of the department;
(4) if the department has met or exceeded the caseload standards under this chapter and, if the standards were exceeded, the number of caseworker positions in the division that could be eliminated and the amount of funding that could be reduced while continuing to meet but not routinely exceed the caseload standards;
(5) the performance of the department on federal benchmarks focused on the safety, well-being, and permanent placements of foster children compared with the previous five years.