Interstate Adoptions
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0175 |
By Jared N. Lyles
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children act (the ICPC) was put into place to encourage the cooperation and communication between state authorities that are involved in the interstate placement of children in foster care or for adoption.1
For the purposes of this article, with some exceptions (more about those in a minute), when a child crosses states lines for the purpose of adoption - whether the child is sent through an agency or a person in the business of placing children for adoption or by a state government - the ICPC applies.
When the ICPC Applies
The ICPC applies to sending agencies. It then defines a sending agency quite broadly as "a party state, or officer or employee thereof; a court of a party state; a person, corporation, association, charitable agency or other entity which sends, brings or causes to be sent or brought any child to another party state."2 Those sending agencies are not allowed to "send, bring or cause to be sent or brought into any other party state any child...as a preliminary to a possible adoption unless the sending agency shall comply with each and every requirement set forth in this article and with the applicable laws of the receiving state."3
Basically, a child can't be sent by a state, a court of a state, or any sort of child-placing organization into another state for the purpose of placing the child in foster care or for adoption, unless the other state agrees through the ICPC process.
When ICPC Does Not Apply
Certain family members are excluded from the ICPC. It does not apply when this is done by a "parent, step-parent, grandparent, adult brother or sister, adult uncle or aunt or his guardian and leaving the child with any such relative or nonagency guardian in the receiving state."4 Essentially, the ICPC does not apply when a family member brings a child to another state so that the child could remain with another relative or a guardian.
Because the ICPC applies only to out-of-state placements of children in foster care or for adoption, the ICPC does not apply in simple non-dependency custody cases - your run-of-the-mill domestic case. For instance, the ICPC does not apply to divorce custody actions or to a custody action between the child's parents and third parties (for example, grandparents).
Let's make up an example and see how this works: Perhaps your clients, the Smiths (who are Alabama residents), have a longtime friend who was about to have a child in Florida who she could not care for. The friend called the Smiths and asked them to adopt her child. They agreed, left Alabama, and arrived at the hospital in Florida. The Smiths worked with a hospital social worker to obtain the right paperwork and signatures needed to transition custody. The biological mother signed a voluntary delegation of authority to the Smiths. The social worker knew that your clients live in Alabama and didn't mention any other statutes or requirements. Having returned to Alabama, the Smiths engaged your services to petition for adoption.
When you send notice of the adoption petition to State Department of Human Resources (SDHR) pursuant to Ala. Code § 26-10A-17, SDHR may send an acknowledgement letter to the probate court raising concerns that the adoptive petitioners have violated the ICPC, the Child Care Act of 1971,5 or both.
However, by their plain text, the ICPC and the Child Care Act of 1971 do not apply to wholly private adoptions. They regulate only adoptions by "sending agencies" and the "placing" of children for adoption from out of state. In the event DHR argues that the Smiths' adoption petition violates these statutes because the child was a resident of another state and brought into this state for the purpose of adoption, do not be alarmed. You can argue that DHR's interpretation is too broad. When examined, the statutes do nothing to prohibit, or even to regulate, the Smiths' adoption petition.
The ICPC is expressly inapplicable to arrangements made by a qualifying relative - a parent...
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