ICAMA & ICPC

Liz OppenheimSummit of the States on Interstate CooperationNational Center for Interstate Compacts

June 1-2, 2006

Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA) Background

Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 required that states protect the interstate interests of children receiving adoption assistance through an “interstate compact approved by the Secretary or otherwise” (475 U.S.C. 675 (3)).

In 1986, the first nine states became party to the compact

ICAMA

ICAMA is an administratively enacted compact, that is, enabling legislation is enacted by the state legislature delegating authority to administrative officials to enter into specific agreements on behalf of the state.

The compact is then executed (execution method”) by the appropriate authority in the state

ICAMA

Having an administratively adopted compact in this instance was important because:

Changes in federal programs impacting the compact (Medicaid and adoption assistance)are frequent

The programs of the states are so dissimilar

THEREFORE, in order for the compact to work, a greater degree of flexibility and availability for amendment was needed

ICAMA

First enacted by 9 states in 1986 Today, 48 states and the District of

Columbia are party to ICAMA The two remaining non-member states

are committed to joining the compact

ICAMA’s Success State developed solution to federal mandate Provides the mechanism that ensures that

children with special needs receive necessary supports and services, wherever they live. Most importantly, medical assistance

Prevents needless delays or denials of essential medical benefits by providing standard forms and procedures by which interstate eligibilities and transfers of Medicaid become a proper functioning reality.

ICAMA’s Success

States can better recruit and retain prospective adoptive parents and preserve adoptive families when they can assure these families that the services and benefits in their adoption assistance agreements will be provided no matter where they live.

ICAMA provides clear lines of communication between states which ensure that problems families encounter will be resolved when they arise.

ICAMA’s Success Is critically important because:

– Medical Assistance is perhaps the most critical support for the children covered by the compact

– Adoption across state lines is critical to state efforts to increase adoptions from foster care

– The internet has blurred all state lines for children waiting for a permanent, safe, and loving family

– According to the most recent AFCARS data, of the 532,000 children in foster care, 103,460 had the goal of adoption

– A Comparison of 1997 and 2002 data indicated that the number of children residing in a state other than the adoption assistance state grew by 70% over that 5-year period

– Adoption exchanges report that 63% of prospective families who respond to child-specific adoption recruitment do not reside in the same state as the child

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) Background

Grew out of a recognition of the failure of importation and exportation statutes to provide protection for children

Recognition that a state’s jurisdiction ends at its borders and that a state can only compel an out-of-state agency or individual to discharge its obligations toward a child through a compact

ICPC Background (cont.)

Concern that states did not have to provide supportive services to the children placed in their state

Drafted in 1960 - New York was the first state to enact it.

Law in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

State ratification of the compact was through embodiment of the interstate agreement in statute

ICPC Protects Children By:

Assuring that children placed across state lines for foster care or adoption are placed with persons of in residential treatment facilities that are:

Safe Suitable Able to provide proper care

Protects States By:

Fixing legal responsibility Fixing financial responsibility Fixing responsibility for supervision

and the provision of services for the child

ICPC’s Success

For over 50 years, ICPC has provided states the mechanism by which they could work together to ensure protection and services to children placed across state lines by:

Providing the sending agency the opportunity to obtain home studies and evaluation of the proposed placement

Allowing the prospective receiving state to ensure that the placement is not “contrary to the interests of the child” and that applicable laws have been followed

Ensuring that the sending agency does not lose jurisdiction over the child once the child moves to the receiving state

Providing the sending agency the opportunity to obtain regular supervision and reports on the child’s progress.

Solutions for the Future: The new ICPC Renewed focus on safety and permanency

brought ICPC into the spotlight Confirmed the important role that ICPC plays

in ensuring appropriate placements for children

Highlighted the problems with the compact as currently written and implemented

ICPC was written before the interstate highway system, before the development of administrative law, and before the computer revolutionized the way we live.

The new Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children provides a better legal framework to ensure that children are placed across state lines in a timely manner with safe and suitable persons.

The changes in the new compact address the deficiencies documented in the current compact system and the problematic and legally deficient language of the 1960 compact.

The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children

The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) revised the ICPC with input from a diverse group of state human service administrators, state and local child welfare directors, compact administrators, and a broad and diverse groups of national organizations and over 100 stakeholders across the country.

The writing of the new compact began in March 2004 and was completed in March 2006.

ICPC’s Continued Success Is critically important because:

Interstate placements constitute approximately 5.5% (43,000) of children in foster care during a given year

Most of the placements of children across state lines lead to permanency for these children, that is, these children are placement with families who become their permanent families

For many of the 530,000 children in foster care, many will be placed with relatives who live in states other than the state responsible for their care and protection. Relatives are increasingly the best resource to provide permanency for many of the children in foster care.

Children can’t wait - Timely placements are critical

It is a State Solution to State Problems

For More Information onICAMA and ICPC

CONTACT:APHSA810 First Street, NESuite 500Washington, DC 20002(202) 682-0100www.aphsa.org