Overview of ICPC Process What the Guardian ad Litem Needs to Know

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Overview of ICPC ProcessWhat the Guardian ad
Litem Needs to Know

• H. Stephen Pennypacker, Esq.
• ICPC Compact Administrator
• September 19, 2008

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Outline

1. What is the ICPC and why do we need it
2. When does it apply and when does it not apply
3. What is the process
4. Articles of interest
5. Regulations of interest
6. ICPC Central Office
7. What slows an ICPC down
8. The New ICPC

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What is the Interstate Compact on the Placement
of Children?

• An agreement created by social service
  administrators in 1950s to provide order to the
  movement of children between states under court
  jurisdiction
• New York was first state to adopt it in 1960
• Adopted by all 50 states, District of Columbia,
  Virgin Islands
• Not adopted by Puerto Rico
• 10 Articles, 9 Regulations (Number 2 repealed in
  1999)
• Articles are statutory (Fla. Stat. 401.409)
• Regulations are derivative of articles, adopted
  by the Association of Administrators of the
  Interstate Compact

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What is the Compact (cont.)?

• a) defines the types of placements
  (parent/relative/foster care/adoptive/residential)
  and the persons or entities able to make
  placements subject to the law
• b) sets out the procedures to be followed in
  making an interstate placement
• c) provides specific protections, services, and
  requirements if placement occurs

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Why is the Compact needed?

• Provides the sending agency the opportunity to
  obtain homestudies and an evaluation of the
  proposed placement.
• Allows the prospective receiving state to ensure
  that the placement is not contrary to the
  interests of the child and that the receiving
  states applicable laws and policies have been
  followed before approving the placement.
• Guarantees the child legal and financial
  protection by fixing these responsibilities with
  the sending agency or individual.
• Ensures the sending agency does not lose
  jurisdiction over the child once the child moves
  to the receiving state.
• Provides the sending agency the opportunity to
  obtain supervision and regular reports on the
  childs adjustment and progress in the placement.

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What if there were no compact?

• If there were no compact, the court could send
  children to another state with no homestudy, no
  services, no supervision, no obligation to
  provide support, and no jurisdiction.
• Conversely, children would be arriving in
  Florida every day to live in unsuitable, even
  dangerous homes, with no services, no support,
  and no supervision many would end up in our
  dependency and/or delinquency system or worse.

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When does the Compact apply?

• Placement preliminary to an adoption, including
  placements through a public agency, private
  agencies or attorneys.
• Placements into foster care, including foster
  homes, group homes and residential treatment
  facilities.
• Placements with parents and relatives when a
  parent or relative is not making the placement.

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When does the Compact NOT apply?

• Placements made in medical and mental health
  facilities
• Boarding schools or any institution primarily
  educational in character
• Placement of a child made by and to a parent,
  stepparent, grandparent, adult brother or sister,
  adult aunt or uncle, or childs guardian
• Divorce or custody procedures
• International studies or international adoptions
• Visits (up to 30 days or summer school vacation)
• Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam or Samoa

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How do you begin an ICPC

• Order of Compliance entered by court
• Regular parent/relative/foster care
• Intact family child already placed
• Priority (Regulation 7) - expedited
• Court Jurisdiction supervision
  closed or non-public agency

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Checklist Florida to Another State
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Priority ICPC Regulation 7

• 6. A court order finding entitlement to a
  priority placement shall not be valid unless it
  contains an express finding that one or more of
  the following circumstances applies to the
  particular case and sets forth the facts on which
  the court bases its finding
•     (a) the proposed placement recipient is a
  relative belonging to a class of persons who,
  under Article VIII (a) of ICPC could receive a
  child from another person belonging to such a
  class, without complying with ICPC and (1) the
  child is under two (2) years of age or (2) the
  child is in an emergency shelter or (3) the
  court finds that the child has spent a
  substantial amount of time in the home of the
  proposed placement recipient.
•     (b) the receiving state Compact Administrator
  has a properly completed ICPC-100A and supporting
  documentation for over thirty (30) business days,
  but the sending agency has not received a notice
  pursuant to Article III (d) of ICPC determining
  whether the child may or may not be placed.
• Parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult
  brother or sister, adult uncle or aunt or a
  guardian

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Checklist Priority (Regulation 7)
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Form 100A
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Uploaded document (pending)
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Time Frames

• From entry of order to packet being uploaded into
  ICS 5 business days (non-Reg. 7 case)
• Packet to be processed by our office (checked for
  completeness and sent out) 2 -3 business days
• Packet assigned to other state local office 14
  days
• Homestudy completed in other state 30 60 days
  (Safe and Timely Placement of Children Act of
  2006)

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Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Children
Act of 2006

• Under section 471(a)(26), a State is required to
  complete
• and report on foster and adoptive home studies
  requested
• by another State within 60 days. An exception to
  the 60-
• day requirement is provided (but only until
  9/30/08) if the
• States failure to complete the home study within
  60 days is
• due to circumstances beyond the States control
  (e.g.,
• delays in receipt of Federal agency background
  checks).
• This exception gives the State 15 more days to
  complete
• and report on the home study.
• The State that requested the home study must
  accept the
• completed home study unless, within 14 days of
  receiving
• the report, the State determines that reliance on
  the report
• would be contrary to the childs welfare.
• The parts of the home study involving education
  and
• training of prospective foster and adoptive
  parents do not
• have to be completed within the same 60- (or 75-)
  day
• timeframe. Further, States are permitted to
  contract with a
• private agency to conduct the home study.

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Incentive for Timely Completion under Safe and
Timely Interstate Placement

• Federal government authorized 10,000,000.00 to
  be utilized to pay an incentive to states that
  completed homestudies within 30 days for non-
  priority cases
• But money has never been appropriated!

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Homestudy is approved 100B for placement
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Articles of Interest
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Articles of Interest (cont.)
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Articles of Interest
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Article V (cont.)
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Regulations of InterestRegulation 1 intact
family
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Regulation 1 (cont.)
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Regulation No. 3
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When can you place with a non-offending parent
without doing an ICPC?
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Regulation 7 Priority Placement
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Regulation 7 (cont.)

• CHILD CANNOT BE 2.5 BUT UNDER 2.
• WE WILL SEND IF ITS A SIB GROUP AND AT LEAST ONE
  IS UNDER 2 YOA BUT THE OTHER STATE MAY OR MAY NOT
  ACCEPT AS SUCH.
• EMERGENCY SHELTER IS NOT OUR LEGAL STATUS BUT A
  SHELTER.
• SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF TIME IS UP TO THE JUDGES
  FINDING BUT THE OTHER STATE COULD QUESTION, SO A
  CLEAR EXPLANANTION ON THE ORDER IS BEST. AT A
  MINIMUM, ON THE COVER LETTER.
• IF AN ORDER OF COMPLIANCE IS NEEDED, CAN COMBINE
  THAT WITH THE PRIORITY ORDER.
• Resource PARENT, STEPPARENT, GRANDPARENT, ADULT
  BROTHER OR SISTER, ADULT UNCLE OR AUNT, GUARDIAN

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Regulation 7 (cont.)
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Regulation 7 (cont.)
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Regulation 9 - visits
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Regulation 9 (cont.)
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Composition of ICPC Central Office Tallahassee

• Seven full-time specialists
• Cases assigned by states
• Two full-time people in mail room
• Three part-time employees
• Approximately 370 new cases per month
• Ratio of in state to out of state 2 to 1

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Organizational Chart

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Cases Received by ICPC Central Office - 2008
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ICS Homestudy Page
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ICS Homestudy Page
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Court View
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ICPC The most frustrating part of dependency

• What slows down an ICPC request?
• Problem delay from hearing to entry of order,
  entry of order to submission of completed packet
  to ICPC Central office
• Solution
• 1) ICPC Compact Administrator working with
  CLS to encourage entry of orders at time of
  hearing or within no more than 24 hours
• 2) CLS to provide copy of order of
  compliance to ICPC central office upon entry
• 3) ICPC Central Office to send automatic
  e-mail to CBC lead agency liaison with due date
  for packet
• 4) CBCs agreed to have packets submitted
  to central office within 2-3 days of entry of
  order of compliance
• 5) ICPC Central office now can track
  critical dates with new homestudy page

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What slows down an ICPC

• Problem
• Awaiting results of background screens
  conventional rolled fingerprints, delays in
  processing of criminal history
• Solution
• 1) pilot program in Escambia and Duval County
  Georgia agreed to allow Florida to fingerprint
  Georgia residents using live scan machines and to
  accept results
• Machines just now being installed, trainers
  to be processed, already ran at least one
  prospective placement in Pensacola
• 2) hope to expand to Alabama
• 3) do informal screen by having placement
  answer questions about criminal and abuse history
  before sending through ICPC request
• four out of five are not approved
• 4) have prospective placement contact local
  agency in receiving state to push for ICPC
  homestudy process to begin

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What slows down an ICPC (cont.)

• Problem
• Other state requires prospective placement to
  be licensed (foster care, even for relatives)
  most states do require licensing, Florida is one
  of few that dont prospective placement must
  complete training and CBC must pay other state
  board rate
• Solution
• As soon as prospective placement is
  identified, if receiving state requires
  licensing, have placement sign up for training
  and have CBC negotiate board rate dont wait
  until preliminary homestudy is done and then
  start training, discussing money, IVE
  eligibility, Medicaid, etc.

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What else can be done?

• The New ICPC
• What is it? compact approved by Association of
  Administrators of Interstate Compact on Placement
  for Children, American Association of Adoption
  Attorneys, American Bar Association, American
  Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Uniform Law
  Commission
• Why do we need it now?
• Current ICPC has
• No forum to challenge results only remedy
  is to sue other state
• No forum to enforce violations
• Private adoptive parents must wait in state
  for approval before traveling
• Current Articles and Regulations do not
  cover all situations and states are left to
  interpret no consistency

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Why a new ICPC is needed (cont.)?

• Existing ICPC adopted in 1961
• No time frames for completion of regular request
  except Safe and Timely Placement of Interstate
  Children in Foster Care Act of 2006 30 day
  incentives not funded by federal government
• No jurisdiction to compel compliance by other
  state only formal remedy for non-compliance
  under current ICPC is to litigate with the other
  state

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Resources
Articles and Regulations http//icpc.aphsa.org/Hom
e/resources.asp
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Questions?

• Contact Information
• H. Stephen Pennypacker, Esq.
• ICPC Compact Administrator
• Department of Children and Family Services
• 1317 Winewood Boulevard, Bldg. 6, Room 123
• Tallahassee, FL 32617
• [phone]
• stephen_pennypacker_at_dcf.state.fl.us