In May 1997, for instance, the conference was attended by more than 300 registrants, including judges, CPR board members, court-appointed special advocates, foster parents, court personnel, CPR coordinators, DYFS case workers, and administrators from the administrative office of the courts. At its executive board meeting, in the summer of 1997, the Child Placement Advisory Council instituted a continuing education requirement for all CPR volunteers, to be implemented in May 1998. This requirement can be met by attendance at the conferences, or by taking advantage of an expanding local training option that is being staffed, coordinated, and scheduled by CPR volunteers. There is no set minimum number of meetings or times of meetings for CPR boards. Each assignment judge is left to structure CPR board schedules to meet the requirements of the mandatory court placement review.
Many boards meet in the evening, while others meet during the regular court day.
Duration and method of conducting the meetings vary from vicinage to vicinage, and even from board to board within the same vicinage. While many boards have each member review all cases, others assign a particular case for preparation to a subcommittee or an individual member, and then have them report to the entire board. Reports on each case are mailed in advance of the meeting, and in this writer's county are included with a list of cases preassigned to each member for preparation. Volunteers spend several hours at home reading, studying, and taking notes on each case. They arrive informed, and the discussion focuses on the particular issues in each case and the group decisions they must make to prepare written recommendations to the judge.