Instead of starting my day telling you about how I slept OK and I’m up again and the kids are still asleep, etc., I thought I would answer one of Amie's questions from the comment section and talk for a few minutes about ICPC.
Her question was “Will you talk to me about the ICPC process, the steps involved and what the common hold ups are?”“
I will answer the question based on my experience with several hundred adoption situations over the last three years. I work mainly with a few states, so I can’t speak for the whole country, necessarily, but I’ll tell you what I know. If anyone else has input or thinks I’m wrong, please correct me.
The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, according to the adoption connection dictionary, is an agreement between all 50 states establishing procedures for interstate adoption placements. ICPC must be completed if the child being placed and the adoptive parents reside in different states. The adoptive parents can not leave the state where the child is in custody until ICPC is filed and the state grants consent to go back to your home state.
So, when dealing with children in foster care, the social worker from the sending county has a packet of information they need to complete requesting permission from the state where the parents live to send the child/children there. The social worker then sends that packet of information to the sending state’s main ICPC office where they check it and forward it to the receiving states ICPC office. That state then checks the paperwork and sends approval back to the sending states ICPC office. At that point the sending states ICPC office notifies the original social worker who started the whole process.
Common hold ups: Well, basically, the hold ups can be explained in one word: people. Did you count how many desks the packet can get stuck sitting on? I count 3 people but it is on 2 of those desks more than once.
So, first of all holdups can be about volume. It can be about time of year. It can be about work load. If an ICPC office has two people retiring at the same time, as one state did about a year ago, it can really back things up. What if someone is on maternity leave or vacation? All these things can slow things up.
The real purpose of ICPC is that it is supposed to be a check to see if all paperwork is correct. Unfortunately, in many states, the people in the receiving state’s ICPC office take it upon themselves to make judgments about the placement. Is the kid too hard? Is there too many kids in the sibling group for the parents to handle? Do the parents already have too many kids? Some states are notorious for this and often will stop a placement by simply
When this happens, it can go downhill from there. If that person in the office decides it isn’t a good idea, they can stop the placement. If they can’t find a way to refuse it, they simply do so be default. They drag their feet until finally the family gives up. In one state in particular, they used to take over a year for approval just so they didn’t have to say yes.
Fortunately, for most states, ICPC clearance usually takes less than six weeks once the paperwork is submitted. Unfortunately sometimes the paperwork doesn’t get completed for a long time after a match takes place because social workers are so busy.
Bottom line: Imperfect, very busy and overworked people in an imperfect system can’t always process paperwork in a timely manner.
Anyone else have experiences, good or bad, to share? If so, you can do so on the Adoption Think Tank where I posted this question today.
Her question was “Will you talk to me about the ICPC process, the steps involved and what the common hold ups are?”“
I will answer the question based on my experience with several hundred adoption situations over the last three years. I work mainly with a few states, so I can’t speak for the whole country, necessarily, but I’ll tell you what I know. If anyone else has input or thinks I’m wrong, please correct me.
The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, according to the adoption connection dictionary, is an agreement between all 50 states establishing procedures for interstate adoption placements. ICPC must be completed if the child being placed and the adoptive parents reside in different states. The adoptive parents can not leave the state where the child is in custody until ICPC is filed and the state grants consent to go back to your home state.
So, when dealing with children in foster care, the social worker from the sending county has a packet of information they need to complete requesting permission from the state where the parents live to send the child/children there. The social worker then sends that packet of information to the sending state’s main ICPC office where they check it and forward it to the receiving states ICPC office. That state then checks the paperwork and sends approval back to the sending states ICPC office. At that point the sending states ICPC office notifies the original social worker who started the whole process.
Common hold ups: Well, basically, the hold ups can be explained in one word: people. Did you count how many desks the packet can get stuck sitting on? I count 3 people but it is on 2 of those desks more than once.
So, first of all holdups can be about volume. It can be about time of year. It can be about work load. If an ICPC office has two people retiring at the same time, as one state did about a year ago, it can really back things up. What if someone is on maternity leave or vacation? All these things can slow things up.
The real purpose of ICPC is that it is supposed to be a check to see if all paperwork is correct. Unfortunately, in many states, the people in the receiving state’s ICPC office take it upon themselves to make judgments about the placement. Is the kid too hard? Is there too many kids in the sibling group for the parents to handle? Do the parents already have too many kids? Some states are notorious for this and often will stop a placement by simply
When this happens, it can go downhill from there. If that person in the office decides it isn’t a good idea, they can stop the placement. If they can’t find a way to refuse it, they simply do so be default. They drag their feet until finally the family gives up. In one state in particular, they used to take over a year for approval just so they didn’t have to say yes.
Fortunately, for most states, ICPC clearance usually takes less than six weeks once the paperwork is submitted. Unfortunately sometimes the paperwork doesn’t get completed for a long time after a match takes place because social workers are so busy.
Bottom line: Imperfect, very busy and overworked people in an imperfect system can’t always process paperwork in a timely manner.
Anyone else have experiences, good or bad, to share? If so, you can do so on the Adoption Think Tank where I posted this question today.
1 comment:
As a former foster child and current child advocate, I can see it both ways.
For a caring individual or couple who are eager to finalize the adoption, they are hoping that ICPC will just hurry up and get through the paperwork, so that they can start building a healthy family.
But -- sometimes ICPC should make judgements. Sometimes there needs to be more checks and balances.
This is particularly true for 'collector families' who adopt large numbers of hard-to-place children and receive financial subsidies.
Consider the following cases:
1.) The Gravelles: An Ohio family who adopted 11 special needs children, used harmful discipline techniques and forced some of the children to sleep in cages.
The Gravelles received adoption subsidies of $56,000 per year.
2.) Mercury Higgins, an adoptive parent in Tecas, whose seven adoptive children were found in an Nigerian orphanage 10 months after she abandoned them.
While they were suffering from malaria and malnutrution, Mercury Higgins had continued to receive adoption subsidies, totalling $3,584 per month, for their care.
3.) Widow Elizabeth Hazelbaker had 11 children living in her home. Six were adopted. Five were Butler County foster children, ranging in age from 1 to 16.
State records show that the agency's caseworkers didn't check to see if they were more than Hazelbaker could handle alone.
When Greene County deputies began investigating, here is what they discovered:
-The children were whipped with the wire handle of a fly swatter, paint stirrers or a switch plucked off a thorny bush
-They were forced to take cold showers together and sleep on the floor
-Hazelbaker often spit in their mouths as punishment for being too loud
-The youngest children were taped or tied to chairs with leashes, sometimes for hours
-Children often ate garbage directly from the trash because they didn't get enough to eat
Hazelbaker, 54, was sentenced in July to 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to three of 11 misdemeanor child-endangering charges.
I am not writing this to disparage or caracaturize adoptive families.
Most adoptive parents are truly wonderful people who deeply care about children. My friend Johanna is one such adoptive parent. She has adopted several children, including sibling groups from overseas.
However, on behalf of children, who often have no voice, I do think that more safeguards need to be in place.
The bottom line for me is that busy and overworked people in an imperfect system not only can’t always process paperwork in a timely manner -- sometimes they allow vulnerable children to be placed in abusive environments.
Lisa
http://sunshinegirlonarainyday.blogspot.com/
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