Transcript ICAMA & ICPC - The Council of State Governments

ICAMA & ICPC
Liz Oppenheim
Summit of the States on Interstate
Cooperation
National 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 5year period
– Adoption exchanges report that 63% of
prospective families who respond to childspecific 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 on
ICAMA and ICPC
CONTACT:
APHSA
810 First Street, NE
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 682-0100
www.aphsa.org