1. (a) An individual affected by a decision or action of the office in the department that provides child protection services, including a parent, foster parent, adult family member, a person with a significant relationship with a child, or a person participating in provision of services to a child or family, may submit a case-specific grievance on a form provided by the office. In this subsection, "person with a significant relationship with a child" means a stepparent, a grandparent, or a parent's live-in partner.

2. (b) The grievance procedure under this section is not available to

   1. (1) a state employee unless the employee is also a client of the department, a client's parent or guardian, or a service provider for the department;
   2. (2) address contract services disputes;
   3. (3) appeal late payments or to contest foster care rates paid;
   4. (4) appeal a decision regarding grant programs that may be appealed under 7 AAC 78.310;
   5. (5) appeal a decision regarding civil rights actions covered under the department's civil rights complaint procedures;
   6. (6) appeal a decision or action taken by the department that is reviewable by the court under AS 47.10;
   7. (7) review or overturn a decision by the department that the person has a substantiated finding under AS 47.10 or AS 47.17; for a decision described in this paragraph, a person must make a request to the department for review by the office of administrative hearings (AS 44.64.010);
   8. (8) appeal a licensing action under AS 47.32;
   9. (9) initiate, against personnel, complaints that are subject to AS 39.25 (State Personnel Act);

   10. (10) grieve a decision, action, or inaction taken by the department if the time that has passed since that decision, action, or inaction occurred exceeds the shorter of the following periods:

       1. (A) six months after the grievant had actual notice of the decision, action, or inaction;
       2. (B) three years, regardless of whether or when the grievant had actual notice of the decision, action, or inaction; or
   11. (11) appeal any state or federal action that is under the jurisdiction of other state or federal agencies.

3. (c) A foster parent may not grieve the emergency removal of a child. If a foster parent grieves the removal of a foster child on a nonemergency basis, the foster parent may request that the child not be removed until the issuance of a final decision under 7 AAC 54.260. The request shall be granted unless a protective services regional manager finds that

   1. (1) removal is in the best interest of the child;
   2. (2) the child is being returned to the legal parent or guardian;
   3. (3) removal is in response to an allegation of abuse or neglect and the child's safety is at risk in the foster home; or
   4. (4) removal is ordered by a court.
4. (d) The provisions of 7 AAC 54.020 - 7 AAC 54.150 and 7 AAC 54.900 regarding confidentiality of child protection files apply to grievances filed under this section.
5. (e) The formal grievance process begins when the grievance is received on the designated form by a department employee. Upon receipt, the department employee shall forward the grievance to the office director or the office director's designee to assign each grievance a case number and enter the case into an office-wide database accessible to office personnel.

6. (f) Not later than five business days after the department receives a grievance, the office director or designee shall

   1. (1) make a determination regarding whether to accept the grievance or reject it as not applicable under (b) of this section; and
   2. (2) inform the grievant of the decision.
7. (g) If accepted, the grievance shall be assigned to the supervisor that oversees the case referenced in the grievance or the supervisor of the employee that is listed in the grievance. The grievant shall be given notice that the grievance has been assigned and a copy of the grievance process shall be provided.
8. (h) If the grievance is rejected, a notice shall be issued informing the grievant why the grievance has not been accepted and what other options may exist.
9. (i) All actions taken and decisions made on the grievance must be documented in the database. All documents, exhibits, and audio recordings must also be preserved in the database.
10. (j) A grievance may be submitted to the department by mail, facsimile transmission, or electronic mail. Responses by the department to a grievance submitted under this section or 7 AAC 54.260 may be sent by electronic mail if the parties consent to that mode of communication. In calculating the time period for filing or responding, the date a document is sent is not counted in calculating timeliness.

(Eff. 9/7/2013, Register 207)