While technology has made it easier to find families for children across the country, interjurisdictional issues can have an impact on planning and achieving permanency across State lines. This section provides resources 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. Resources include State and local examples.
- ICPC and interjurisdictional placements
- Legal and court issues regarding interjurisdictional placements
Agency Readiness Assessment for Interjurisdictional Placements (PDF - 91 KB)
National Resource Center for Diligent Recruitment at AdoptUSKids (2012)
Provides a self-assessment form to help agencies identify their existing capacity for supporting and making interjurisdictional placements. The form focuses on the areas of training, system supports, evaluation, and recruitment.
Association of Administrators for the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (AAICAMA)
Provides information about ICAMA 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.
Association for the Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC)
Describes the AAICPC, which comprises members from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and has authority under the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) to "promulgate rules and regulations to carry out more effectively the terms and provisions of this compact." AAICPC provides resources on the ICPC, including the new ICPC, which has been enacted in several States.
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.
Dollars and Sense: A Guide to Achieving Adoptions Through Public-Private Contracting (PDF - 339 KB)
Freundlich (2007)
AdoptUSKids
Provides public and private agency program managers, supervisors, and contract managers with information about the purchase of interjurisdictional adoption services, including funding and paying for adoption services, monitoring and follow-up, and more.
ICAMA and Medicaid: Understanding the COBRA Option and COBRA Reciprocity
McCartney (2007)
Bridges
View Abstract
Explains ICAMA and the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) reciprocity, which allows States to extend Medicaid benefits to children residing in the State who receive State-funded adoption assistance from another State. The article includes criteria for determining whether a child can receive Medicaid in an interstate case.
Interjurisdictional Placement of Children in the Child Welfare System: Improving the Process (PDF - 1,237 KB)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau (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.
Interstate Placements
National Resource Center for Diligent Recruitment at AdoptUSKids
Provides tools and resources to help agencies embrace interstate, also known as interjurisdictional, placements as an option for achieving permanency. Materials include checklists for sending and receiving States, information about the two interstate compacts for adoption and foster care, training and free consulting services for public agencies, and more. This website also offers an Interstate Placements: Ideas from the Field section.
Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau (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.
Wherever My Family Is: That's Home! Adoption Services for Military Families (PDF - 1,802 KB)
McKenzie, McKenzie, & Jackson (2006)
AdoptUsKids
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.
State and local examples
Collaborative Adoption Project: CAP
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (2005)
View Abstract and Document
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 and Document
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 and Document
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.