Chapter XI Interstate/Intercountry Services to Children SECTION 1605 -INTERSTATE/INTERCOUNTRY SERVICES TO CHILDREN

CHANGE # 07-2010

DECEMBER 2010

I. PHILOSOPHY

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children regulates the interstate movement of children. The Compact is a uniform law that has been enacted by all the fifty states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The North Carolina legislature enacted the Compact on July 1, 1971. The Compact is the best means we have to ensure protection and services to children who are placed across state lines for foster care or adoption.

The Compact is a legally and administratively sound means of placing children across states lines with the same safeguards and services as are available when they are placed within their own state. The Compact provides the means for securing an evaluation of a prospective placement before the child is sent outside the state and provides assurance that the sending state retains jurisdiction over the child sufficient to ensure that the child receives adequate care and protection.

Increased mobility, expanded social services and the importance of continuity of responsibility for children have increased the demand for cooperative services between agencies across state and national boundaries. If a family or other resource in a community at a distance can meet a child's needs to a greater degree than can be provided in his own state, the desirability of an out-of-state placement is accepted. Placements across state lines require the cooperation of agencies in ensuring that potential placements are evaluated for suitability and that supervision will be provided for the time necessary to determine that the placement is in the child's best interest. There must be assurance that the child will be returned to his home state should the placement break down.

The Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, the Secretariat and the legal counsel of the APWA promulgate rules and regulations in an effort to ensure that the terms and provisions of the Compact are carried out effectively. The basic philosophy is that children being placed across state lines should receive the same quality care and protection they would have received in their home state.

Successful permanency planning outcomes of children placed across state lines should be promoted by ensuring: 1) that each child requiring placement has the opportunity to be placed in a suitable environment, with persons having appropriate qualifications or in institutions having appropriate facilities to provide care; 2) that the authorities in a state where a child is to be placed have the opportunity to assess the proposed placement, thereby promoting compliance with requirements for the protection of the child; 3) that the authorities of the state from which the placement is made may obtain sufficient information to evaluate the proposed placement before it is made; and 4) that appropriate jurisdictional arrangements for the care of children will be promoted.