Interjurisdictional Placements

This section provides resources for information about the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), which establishes procedures for ensuring the safety and stability of placements across State lines, and the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA), which ensures continuity of adoption assistance payments for children in interjurisdictional placements, and includes State and local examples.

• ICPC and interjurisdictional placements
• Legal and court issues regarding interjurisdictional placements

Answering the Call: Wherever My Family Is: That's Home! Adoption Services for Military Families (PDF - 1596 KB)
AdoptUsKids (2006)
Provides a road map for making quality and timely adoption services available to military families. This guide focuses on what adoption agencies and military support personnel can do to prepare and help military families adopt children, including their relatives' children, from foster care. It includes websites, agencies, and a glossary.

Association for the Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC)
Describes the AAICPC, which is comprised of members from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and has authority under ICPC to "promulgate rules and regulations to carry out more effectively the terms and provisions of this compact." Provides resources on the ICPC, including the new ICPC, which has been enacted in several States.

Association of Administrators for the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA)
Provides information about the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA) for State and local child welfare agency staff. The site is designed to help agencies work with families that have an adoption assistance agreement and move across State lines.

Beyond Borders: Achieving Child Permanence Across Geographic Boundaries [Video]
AdoptUSKids (2010)
Features professionals sharing stories on the value of interjurisdictional placements and how to make them succeed.

Interjurisdictional Placement of Children in the Child Welfare System: Improving the Process (PDF - 1237 KB)
Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2006)
Describes results from the first comprehensive national survey of States' strategies and resources to improve the interjurisdictional placement process. This report focuses on States' current efforts to reduce barriers to interjurisdictional placement and presents recommendations for improving the process through training and technical assistance, collaboration, and policy changes.

Interjurisdictional Placement of Children in Foster Care
Freundlich, Heffernan, & Jacobs
Child Welfare, 83(1), 2004
View Abstract
Considers policy and practice implications of interjurisdictional placement in the context of foster care, adoption, and kinship care and suggests directions for interjurisdictional adoption practice and policy.

Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care
Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2006)
Describes the nature, scope, and impact of interjurisdictional adoption placement efforts and the strategies that improve outcomes for children in foster care who are placed for adoption in other jurisdictions.

(Back to Top)

State and local examples

Collaborative Adoption Project: CAP
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2005)
View Abstract
Identifies barriers and delays to cross-jurisdictional adoptive placements and postadoption services and strategies to overcome these barriers.

Collaborative Planning to Increase Interjurisdictional Adoptions Project
Florendo & Calkins (2005)
View Abstract
Describes activities and outcomes of a project designed to remove longstanding barriers to cross-jurisdictional adoptive placements and to streamline delivery of postadoptive services for Alaska Native children.

Understanding Permanency Lessons in Future Teamwork: Final Report
Colorado Department of Human Services (2004)
View Abstract
Describes Project UPLIFT (Understanding Permanency Lessons in Future Teamwork), which was established in Colorado to expand the number of prospective adoptive families by encouraging interjurisdictional placements. The report explains how permanency was facilitated by removing systemic barriers to adoption and educating child welfare workers and judicial personnel about effective adoption practices.