When it comes to adoption, it’s the State that has the say, so it’s vital to understand how each State deals with everything from the use of facilitators to appropriate expenses.
Adopting Across State Lines
In cases where potential adoptive parents are in one state and an adoptable child or expectant woman making an adoption plan is in another, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children comes into play.
The ICPC is identical statutory law in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the US Virgin Islands. Every state has an ICPC office that coordinates and expedites adoptions involving more than one state.
In any adoption, two state offices will work together in the following way:
The ICPC office in the sending state-home to the waiting child or expectant woman-is in charge of details about the child.
Its counterpart in the receiving state-home to the hopeful adoptive parents-is responsible for ensuring the hopeful adoptive family is ready to adopt. It sees to it that local agencies do their job regarding home studies and other regulations.
If the states are side by side there may be an agreement allowing social workers from one state to do home studies in the other, but the ICPC must still be complied with.
Home studies and other aspects of the adoption process may be more involved or complicated, as two sets of laws, rules, regulations and policies must be followed and coordinated.
Your adoption attorney or adoption agency should understand how these regulations work together. Consult with an adoption professional while working across state lines.
