The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 33 : Human Services

Chapter 059 : Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children [Contingently enacted]

Subchapter 001 : Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children[CONTINGENTLY ENACTED]

• [Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]

  § 5905. Retention of jurisdiction—Article V [Contingently repealed; Effective until contingency met]

  (a) The sending agency shall retain jurisdiction over the child sufficient to determine all matters in relation to the custody, supervision, care, treatment, and disposition of the child which it would have had if the child had remained in the sending agency’s state, until the child is adopted, reaches majority, becomes self-supporting, or is discharged with the concurrence of the appropriate authority in the receiving state. Such jurisdiction shall also include the power to effect or cause the return of the child or its transfer to another location and custody pursuant to law. The sending agency shall continue to have financial responsibility for support and maintenance of the child during the period of the placement. Nothing contained herein shall defeat a claim of jurisdiction by a receiving state sufficient to deal with an act of delinquency or crime committed therein.

  (b) When the sending agency is a public agency, it may enter into an agreement with an authorized public or private agency in the receiving state providing for the performance of one or more services in respect of such case by the latter as agent for the sending agency.

  (c) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to prevent a private charitable agency authorized to place children in the receiving state from performing services or acting as agent in that state for a private charitable agency of the sending state; nor to prevent the agency in the receiving state from discharging financial responsibility for the support and maintenance of a child who has been placed on behalf of the sending agency without relieving the responsibility set forth in subsection (a) hereof. (Added 1971, No. 219 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 5, 1972.)

• [Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]

  § 5905. Retention of jurisdiction—Article V [Contingently repealed]

  (Added 1971, No. 219 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 5, 1972; contingently repealed by 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)

• [Contingently enacted.]

  § 5905. Placement evaluation [Contingently enacted]

  (a) Prior to sending, bringing, or causing a child to be sent or brought into a receiving state, the public child placing agency shall provide a written request for assessment to the receiving state.

  (b) For placements by a private child placing agency, a child may be sent or brought, or caused to be sent or brought, into a receiving state, upon receipt and immediate review of the required content in a request for approval of a placement in both the sending and receiving state public child placing agency. The required content to accompany a request for approval shall include all of the following:

  (1) a request for approval identifying the child, birth parent or parents, the prospective adoptive parent or parents, and the supervising agency, signed by the person requesting approval;

  (2) the appropriate consents or relinquishments signed by the birth parents in accordance with the laws of the sending state or, where permitted, the laws of the state where the adoption will be finalized;

  (3) certification by a licensed attorney or authorized agent of a private adoption agency that the consent or relinquishment is in compliance with the applicable laws of the sending state or, where permitted, the laws of the state where finalization of the adoption will occur;

  (4) a home study; and

  (5) an acknowledgment of legal risk signed by the prospective adoptive parents.

  (c) The sending state and the receiving state may request additional information or documents prior to finalization of an approved placement, but they may not delay travel by the prospective adoptive parents with the child if the required content for approval has been submitted, received, and reviewed by the public child placing agency in both the sending state and the receiving state.

  (d) Approval from the public child placing agency in the receiving state for a provisional or approved placement is required as provided for in the rules of the Interstate Commission.

  (e) The procedures for making and the request for an assessment shall contain all information and be in such form as provided for in the rules of the Interstate Commission.

  (f) Upon receipt of a request from the public child placing agency of the sending state, the receiving state shall initiate an assessment of the proposed placement to determine its safety and suitability. If the proposed placement is a placement with a relative, the public child placing agency of the sending state may request a determination for a provisional placement.

  (g) The public child placing agency in the receiving state may request from the public child placing agency or the private child placing agency in the sending state, and shall be entitled to receive, supporting or additional information necessary to complete the assessment or approve the placement.

  (h) The public child placing agency in the receiving state shall approve a provisional placement and complete or arrange for the completion of the assessment within the time frames established by the rules of the Interstate Commission.

  (i) For a placement by a private child placing agency, the sending state shall not impose any additional requirements to complete the home study that are not required by the receiving state, unless the adoption is finalized in the sending state.

  (j) The Interstate Commission may develop uniform standards for the assessment of the safety and suitability of interstate placements. (Contingently added 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)