Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children

The Compact's Process

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children is an agreement between all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The compact provides for the movement and safe placement of children between states when the children are in the custody of a state, being placed for private/independent adoption or, under certain circumstances, being placed by a parent or guardian in a residential treatment facility (RTF). The process involves several steps. In order for an ICPC placement request to get started, a caseworker (or adoption entity) in the state in which the child is located creates a packet that includes such items as the child's social, medical, and educational History and the current status of any court case involving the child. The packet will also include information about the person who is being considered for placement of the child in the receiving state, so that the receiving state will know whom they should be evaluating for possible placement. Once the local person in the sending state creates the placement request packet, it is sent to the central ICPC office in the sending state (usually the state capital, e.g., Austin, Texas).

The ICPC central office in the sending state makes sure everything is in the packet, approves it to be sent out, and then transmits it to the ICPC central office in the state where the child would be placed. Once it arrives in the central office of the receiving state, that office also looks at the packet and, if all is in order, the central office will send it to the social services agency office in the community where the home of the prospective placement is located. Someone from the social services agency will then visit the home, meet with everyone in the home, conduct background screening, and make a determination as to whether the home should be approved for the child to come and live there.

A completed home study report is then sent from the local agency to the central ICPC office in that receiving state and the placement request is either approved or denied based on the recommendation of the home study report. The packet is then sent from the receiving state to the central office in the first state for review. Finally, the local office that started the placement request is sent a copy of the completed home study, along with documentation of the receiving state's decision to either approve or deny the placement request. If the request has been approved by the receiving state, the child can be placed in the chosen home.

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