Foster Care Review Division; board

(A) There is created, within the Department of Children's Advocacy, the Foster Care Review Division. The division must be supported by a board consisting of seven members, all of whom must be past or present members of local review boards. There must be one member from each congressional district, all appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. (B) Terms of office for the members of the board are for four years and until their successors are appointed and qualify. Members may succeed themselves, but a member shall not serve on the board in a holdover capacity at the conclusion of his term for more than one hundred eighty days. Appointments must be made by the Governor for terms of four years to expire on December thirty-first of the appropriate year. Vacancies on the board must be filled in the same manner as the initial appointment for the unexpired term. (C) The board shall elect from its members a chairman who shall serve for two years. Five members of the board constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Members of the board shall receive per diem, mileage, and subsistence as provided by law for members of boards, commissions, and committees while engaged in the work of the board. (D) The board shall meet at least quarterly and more frequently upon the call of the division director to review and coordinate the activities of the local review boards and make recommendations to the director, the Governor, and the General Assembly with regard to foster care policies, procedures, and deficiencies of public and private agencies which arrange for foster care of children as determined by the review of cases provided for in Section 63-11-720(A)(1) and (2). These recommendations must be submitted to the Governor and included in the department's annual report, filed with the General Assembly, of the activities of the state and local review boards. (E) The Department of Children's Advocacy shall promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of this article. These regulations shall provide for and must be limited to procedures for: reviewing reports and other necessary information at state, county, and private agencies and facilities; scheduling of reviews and notification of interested parties; conducting local review board and board of directors' meetings; disseminating local review board recommendations, including reporting to the appropriate family court judges the status of judicially approved treatment plans; participating and intervening in family court proceedings; developing policies for summary review of children privately placed in privately owned facilities or group homes; and the organization and administration of local review boards to include board jurisdiction, membership standards, and other necessary policies. (F) The Department of Children's Advocacy may employ a division director and staff as is necessary to carry out this article, and the funds for the division director, staff, and other purposes of this division must be provided for in the annual general appropriations act.