Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
Regulation No. 7

  1. Words and phrases used in this regulation shall have the same meanings as those ascribed to them in the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC). A word or phrase not appearing in ICPC shall have the meaning ascribed to it by special definition in this regulation or, where not so defined, the meaning properly ascribed to it in common usage.

  2. Whenever a court, upon request, or on its own motion, or where court approval is required, determines that a proposed priority placement of a child from one state into another state is necessary, the court shall make and sign an order embodying that finding. The court shall send its order to the Sending Agency within two (2) business days. The order shall include the name, address, telephone number, and if available, the fax number, of the judge and the court. The court shall have the sending agency transmit, within three (3) business days, the signed court order, a completed Form 100A (“Request for Placement”) and supporting documentation pursuant to ICPC Article III, to the sending state Compact Administrator. Within a time not to exceed two (2) business days after receipt of the ICPC priority placement request, the sending state Compact Administrator shall transmit the priority request and its accompanying documentation to the receiving state Compact Administrator together with a notice that the request for placement is entitled to priority processing.

  3. The court order, ICPC-100A, and supporting documentation referred to in Paragraph Two (2) hereof shall be transmitted to the receiving state Compact Administrator by overnight mail together with a cover notice calling attention to the priority status of the request for placement. The receiving state Compact Administrator shall make his or her determination pursuant to Article III (d) of ICPC as soon as practicable but no later then twenty (20) business days from the date the overnight mailing was received and forthwith shall send the completed 100-A by fax to the sending state Compact Administrator.

  4. (a) If the receiving state Compact Administrator fails to complete action as the receiving state prescribed in Paragraph Three (3) hereof within the time period allowed, the receiving state shall be deemed to be out of compliance with ICPC. If there appears to be a lack of compliance, the court, which made the priority order, may so inform an appropriate court in the receiving state, provide that court with copies of relevant documentation in the case, and request assistance. Within its jurisdiction and authority, the requested court may render such assistance, including the making of appropriate orders, for the purpose of obtaining compliance with this Regulation and ICPC.

    (b) The foregoing shall not apply if:

    (1) within two (2) business days of receipt of the ICPC priority placement request, the sending state Compact Administrator determines that the ICPC request documentation is substantially insufficient, specifies that additional information is needed, and requests the additional documentation from the sending agency. The request shall be made by fax, or by telephone if fax is not available, or

    (2) within two (2) business days of receipt of the ICPC priority placement request, the receiving state Compact Administrator notifies the sending state Compact Administrator that further information is necessary. Such notice shall specifically detail the information needed. For a case in which this subparagraph applies, the twenty (20) business day period for the receiving state Compact Administrator to complete action shall be calculated from the date of the receipt by the receiving state Compact Administrator of the information requested.

    (c) Where the sending state court is not itself the sending agency, it is the responsibility of the sending agency to keep the court, which issued the priority order, informed of the status of the priority request.

  5. A court order finding entitlement to a priority placement shall not be valid unless it contains an express finding that one or more of the following circumstances applies to the particular case and sets forth the facts on which the court bases its finding:

    (a) the proposed placement recipient is a relative belonging to a class of persons who, under Article VIII(a) of ICPC could receive a child from another person belonging to such a class, without complying with ICPC and; (1) the child is under two (2) years of age; or (2) the child is in an emergency shelter; or (3) the court finds that the child has spent a substantial amount of time in the home of the proposed placement recipient.

    (b) the receiving state Compact Administrator has a properly completed ICPC-100A and supporting documentation for over thirty (30) business days, but the sending agency has not received a notice pursuant to Article III (d) of ICPC determining whether the child may or may not be placed.

  6. Time periods in this regulation may be modified with a written agreement between the court which made the priority order, the sending agency, the receiving state Compact Administrator, and the sending state Compact Administrator. Any such modification shall apply only to the single case to which it is addressed.

  7. To fulfill its obligations under ICPC, a state and its local agencies must process interstate cases no less quickly than intrastate cases and give no less attention to interstate hardship cases than to intrastate hardship cases. If in doing so, a receiving state Compact Administrator finds that extraordinary circumstances make it impossible for it and its local agencies to comply with the time requirements set forth in this regulation, it may be excused from strict compliance therewith. However, the receiving state Compact Administrator shall, within two (2) business days of ascertaining inability to comply, notify the sending state Compact Administrator via fax of the inability to comply and shall set forth the date on or before which it will complete action. The notice shall contain a full identification and explanation of the extraordinary circumstances which are delaying compliance.

  8. Unless otherwise required or allowed by this regulation, all transmittals of documents or other written materials shall be by overnight express mail carrier service.

  9. This regulation shall take effect on October 1, 1996.

    This regulation is adopted pursuant to Article VII of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children by action of the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children at its annual meeting on April 28, 1996, in Whitefish, Montana.

Regulation No. 7

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC)
Priority Placement

Effective October 1, 1996, ICPC Regulation No. 7 establishes ICPC procedures for the out-of-state priority placement of children. ICPC Regulation No. 7 sets forth limited circumstances under which this procedure may be used.

  1. The court, upon request, or on its own motion, or where court approval is required, determines that a proposed priority placement of a child from one state to another state is necessary.

    The court order finding entitlement to a priority placement shall not be valid unless it contains an express finding that one or more of the following circumstances applies to a particular case and sets the facts on which the court bases its findings:

    (a) the proposed placement recipient is a relative belonging to a class of persons who under Article VIII (a)2 of ICPC could receive a child from another person belonging to such a class without complying with ICPC, and (1) the child must be under two (2) years of age; or (2) the child is in an emergency shelter, or the court finds that the child has spent a substantial amount of time in the home of the proposed placement recipient.

    (b) the receiving state Compact Administrator has a properly completed ICPC-100A and supporting documentation for over thirty (30) business days, but the sending agency has not received a notice pursuant to Article III (d) of ICPC determining whether the child may or may not be placed.

    The court order and finding must contain the typed name, address, telephone number, and, if available, the fax number of the judge and the court issuing the order. Additionally, the court order must be signed by its issuing judge.

  2. The court has two (2) business days to send the signed court order to the sending agency. The sending agency shall have three (3) business days to send a priority placement request package containing the court order and documentation required under an ICPC request, including the ICPC-101 Form (Priority Home Study Request), to the sending state ICPC Administrator by overnight express mail carrier service.

  3. The sending state ICPC office shall have two (2) business days to validate the priority placement request package and forward same, by overnight express mail, to the receiving state ICPC office.

  4. The receiving state ICPC Administrator shall have twenty (20) business days from the date of receipt of the priority placement request package to obtain sufficient information from his local receiving agency to make a determination as to whether the requested priority placement may or may not be made. The completed ICPC-100A Form (Request for Placement) shall be faxed to the sending state ICPC administrator, who will then fax the copy of the completed ICPC-100A to the sending agency. The latter is obliged to notify the court in the sending state.

  5. ICPC Regulation No. 7 also provides for certain contingencies, such as noncompliance by the receiving state Compact Administrator, receipt of substantially insufficient documentation from the sending court and/or the sending local agency, procedures for obtaining additional documentation and/or information, and mutually agreed upon modifications to the time-period deadlines.

  6. If the receiving state fails to complete action within the prescribed time-period, the receiving state shall be deemed out-of-compliance with the ICPC.

  7. If there appears to be a lack of compliance, the court that made the priority order may so inform an appropriate court in the receiving state and provide the court with copies of relevant documentation of the case, including the making of appropriate orders, for the purpose of obtaining compliance with ICPC and Regulation No. 7 as adopted on April 28, 1996.

  8. If extraordinary circumstances make it impossible to comply with the time requirements set forth in Regulation No. 7, the receiving state has two (2) business days to notify the sending state of the problem. The notice shall contain a full identification and explanation of the extraordinary circumstances that are delaying compliance and shall set forth the date on or before which the receiving state will complete action.

    A booklet on Priority Placement procedures has been developed and can be obtained for a cost of $9 from:

    Office of the ICPC Secretariat

    810 First Street, NE, Suite 500

    Washington, DC 20002-4267

    ARTICLE VIII-LIMITATIONS

    This compact shall not apply to: (a) the sending or bringing of a child into a receiving state by his parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult brother or sister, adult uncle or aunt, or his guardian and leaving the child with any such relative or nonagency guardian in the receiving state.

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