RCW 43.216.7501 Child welfare work—Workplace culture and worker training reports—Training improvement plan. (Expires July 1, 2021.)

(1) The legislature encourages the child welfare division of the department to incorporate reflective supervision principles and recognizes that the cumulative stress of child welfare work, workload for caseworkers and supervisors, organizational support levels, access to resources, insufficient training, limited direct service time, lack of clear expectations, limited access to technology, and burdensome paperwork contribute to high turnover. Child welfare workers who experience secondary, work-related trauma should be given the necessary support to process intense emotional events and the tools to build resiliency.

(2) The department shall provide a report on the department's current efforts to improve workplace culture to the relevant committees of the legislature in compliance with RCW 43.01.036 by December 1, 2019. The report must include results and activities related to the department's organizational change management initiatives, efforts related to the federal program improvement plan, and the department's existing peer support program.

(3) The department and any external entity responsible for providing child welfare worker training shall provide a report on current child welfare worker training to the relevant committees of the legislature in compliance with RCW 43.01.036 by September 1, 2019, that includes:

(a) A review of the effectiveness of the current course curriculum for supervisors;

(b) An evaluation of the preparedness of new child welfare workers;

(c) An inventory of the trauma-informed trainings for child welfare workers and supervisors;

(d) An inventory of the reflective supervision principles embedded within trainings for child welfare workers and supervisors; and

(e) An inventory of the department's efforts to systemize peer support for child welfare workers and supervisors.

(4) The department shall provide a training improvement plan to the relevant committees of the legislature in compliance with RCW 43.01.036 by January 1, 2020, based on the report required under subsection (3) of this section that describes the recommended frequency of trainings and other recommended improvements to child welfare worker training.

(5) For purposes of this section, "child welfare worker" means an employee of the department whose job includes supporting or providing child welfare services as defined in RCW 74.13.020 or child protective services as defined in RCW 26.44.020.

(6) This section expires July 1, 2021.

[ 2019 c 470 § 26.]