Training of child welfare personnel

§ 409-g. Training of child welfare personnel. Within the amounts appropriated therefor, including all federal reimbursement received or to be received on account thereof, the department shall develop and implement a plan for the training of social services district and other authorized agency personnel, including caseworkers involved in the provision or supervision of preventive services, foster care services and adoption services. Such training shall include but need not be limited to:

1. Permanence casework: casework methodologies focused on activities designed to prevent placement in foster care or to shorten the length of stay in care for those children who can be returned home or freed for adoption;

2. Development of skills to facilitate rehabilitation or restoration of the family unit;

3. Development of knowledge and skills in legally freeing children for adoption and providing adoption services;

4. Development of knowledge and skills to prepare for court processes necessary in foster care and adoption; and

5. Development of case management skills including planning for permanence for each child.