What is Interstate Compact?
What is Interstate Compact?
Stephen Ravel, attorney specializing in Independent Adoptions througout the USA and Abroad
E-mail: sraal@best.com
The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) is an agreement among all fifty states that is supposed to coordinate the transfer of children across state lines for the purposes of adoption. There is some question as to whether it was intended to apply to private or independent adoptions, however the only prudent course of action to take is to comply with the terms of the compact.
Generally, what the compact requires is that the state where the child and birth mother are living and the state where the adoptive parents live both agree that the child can come to live with the adoptive parents. The state where the child is born (the sending state) will want to make certain that the legal rights of birth parents have been either terminated by court proceeding or by signing of their consent. The sending state may also require a genetic history of the birthparents and the hospital medical records of the minor. Once the ICPC coordinator in the sending state has all the documentation they require, they will give their approval to leave the birth state.
There is an ICPC coordinator in the receiving state as well. The ICPC cooridinator in the receiving state will typically require a homestudy of the adoptive family to make certain that they can provide a good, stable home for the child and to make certain that the child will be adequately cared for in the adoptive home. Once the sending state has given its approval and the receiving state has completed its homestudy, approval is given for the adoptive family to come home with their baby. In some states all this can be accomplished prior to the birth of the child and in other states it can take up to three or four weeks to get approval. It is illegal to leave the sending state or enter the receiving state without ICPC approval.
Copyright ? 1995, Adopting Resources. All Rights Reserved.
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