The Department of Health and Social Services shall

(1) administer adult public assistance, the Alaska temporary assistance program, and all other assistance programs, and receive and spend money made available to it;

(2) adopt regulations necessary for the conduct of its business and for carrying out federal and state laws granting adult public assistance, temporary cash assistance, diversion payments, or self-sufficiency services for needy families under the Alaska temporary assistance program, and other assistance;

(3) establish minimum standards for personnel employed by the department and adopt necessary regulations to maintain those standards;

(4) require those bonds and undertakings from persons employed by it that, in its judgment, are necessary, and pay the premiums on them;

(5) cooperate with the federal government in matters of mutual concern pertaining to adult public assistance, the Alaska temporary assistance program, and other forms of public assistance;

(6) make the reports, in the form and containing the information, that the federal government from time to time requires;

(7) cooperate with the federal government, its agencies, or instrumentalities in establishing, extending, and strengthening services for the protection and care of homeless, dependent, and neglected children in danger of becoming delinquent, and receive and expend funds available to the department by the federal government, the state, or its political subdivisions for that purpose;

(8) cooperate with the federal government in adopting state plans to make the state eligible for federal matching in appropriate categories of assistance, and in all matters of mutual concern, including adoption of the methods of administration that are found by the federal government to be necessary for the efficient operation of welfare programs;

(9) adopt regulations, not inconsistent with law, defining need, prescribing the conditions of eligibility for assistance, and establishing standards for determining the amount of assistance that an eligible person is entitled to receive; the amount of the assistance is sufficient when, added to all other income and resources available to an individual, it provides the individual with a reasonable subsistence compatible with health and well-being; an individual who meets the requirements for eligibility for assistance shall be granted the assistance promptly upon application for it;

(10) grant to a person claiming or receiving assistance and who is aggrieved because of the department's action or failure to act, reasonable notice and an opportunity for a fair hearing by the office of administrative hearings (AS 44.64.010), and the department shall adopt regulations relative to this;

(11) enter into reciprocal agreements with other states relative to public assistance, welfare services, and institutional care that are considered advisable;

(12) establish the requirements of residence for public assistance, welfare services, and institutional care that are considered advisable, subject to the limitations of other laws of the state, or law or regulation imposed as conditions for federal financial participation;

(13) establish the divisions and local offices that are considered necessary or expedient to carry out a duty or authority assigned to it and appoint and employ the assistants and personnel that are necessary to carry on the work of the divisions and offices, and fix the compensation of the assistants or employees, except that a person engaged in business as a retail vendor of general merchandise, or a member of the immediate family of a person who is so engaged, may not serve as an acting, temporary, or permanent local agent of the department, unless the commissioner of health and social services certifies in writing to the governor, with relation to a particular community, that no other qualified person is available in the community to serve as local welfare agent; for the purposes of this paragraph, a “member of the immediate family” includes a spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, parent-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law;

(14) provide education and health-related services and referrals designed to reduce the number of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and the number of induced pregnancy terminations in the state;

(15) investigate reports of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property by certified nurse aides in facilities licensed by the department under AS 47.32;

(16) establish state policy relating to and administer federal programs subject to state control as provided under 42 U.S.C. 3001 - 3058ee (Older Americans Act of 1965), as amended, and related federal regulations;

(17) administer the older Alaskans service grants under AS 47.65.010 - 47.65.050 and the adult day care and family respite care grants under AS 47.65.100;

(18) actively seek to recruit quality foster parents and adoptive parents when a shortage of quality foster parents or adoptive parents exists.