1. The Director of the Department of Health and Human Services shall establish a task force to develop a program to prevent the relinquishment of custody of children who are not abused or neglected to an agency which provides child welfare services or the voluntary placement of such children with a public or private institution or agency pursuant to NRS 432B.360 solely to allow the children to receive services to address a mental illness or emotional disturbance. The Director shall appoint to the task force representatives of:
(a) The Division of Child and Family Services of the Department;
(b) The Aging and Disability Services Division of the Department;
(c) The Division of Public and Behavioral Health of the Department; and
(d) The Division of Health Care Financing and Policy of the Department.
2. In addition to the members appointed pursuant to subsection 1:
(a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall appoint to the task force one representative of the Department of Education; and
(b) The person in charge of each agency which provides child welfare services in a county whose population is 100,000 or more shall appoint to the task force one representative of the agency.
3. Each member of the task force serves without additional compensation and is not entitled to the per diem allowance and travel expenses provided for state officers and employees generally.
4. Each member of the task force who is an officer or employee of this State or a political subdivision of this State must be relieved from his or her duties without loss of regular compensation so that the officer or employee may prepare for and attend meetings of the task force and perform any work necessary to carry out the duties of the task force in the most timely manner practicable. A state agency or political subdivision of this State shall not require an officer or employee who is a member of the task force to make up the time the officer or employee is absent from work to carry out duties as a member of the task force or use annual vacation or compensatory time for the absence.
(Added to NRS by 2019, 872, effective July 1, 2021)