How to adopt a child out of state

Understanding interstate adoption – AdoptUSKids for professionals

Placing a child in another state or, sometimes, even another county creates additional layers of paperwork and requires more communication. So why pursue it?

Because a child has relatives who are qualified to adopt them.
Because an approved family has inquired about a child after seeing them on a website or in social media.
Because it’s the law! Two federal laws—the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act—require states to consider interjurisdictional placements and can penalize agencies that do not comply.
Because the location of an approved family who is willing and capable to parent a child should not be the primary consideration when making a placement.
Because a child who has been waiting could get the love and permanency they deserve.

Adopting a child across state or county lines requires the same steps as any adoption—a family expresses interest in a child, workers identify the family as a good fit, visits are scheduled, a home study and paperwork are completed. If all goes well, an adoptive placement is made and finalized by a judge.

The difference, of course, is that placements across state lines are subject to the procedures outlined in the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC).

What is the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children?

The Interstate Compact is essentially a contract that all 50 states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands have agreed to. It establishes procedures for ensuring the safety and stability of placements of children across state lines. Child Welfare Information Gateway provides summaries of state statutes for prospective parents considering the adoption of a child from another state, including issues related to child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption.

What are the steps involved in facilitating an interstate adoption?

The ICPC requires that families comply with the laws of their own state and of the sending state (where the child lives). To comply, the “sending state,” where the child lives, and the “receiving state,” where the family lives, must share a great deal of information. States exchange information through ICPC compact administrators, who also review the information for completeness and compliance with their state’s laws.

The steps involved in an interstate adoption are:

The child’s agency initiates the process by requesting a home study and creating a packet that includes a form (ICPC 100-A) and information about the child’s needs.
The agency sends the packet to the ICPC compact administrator in the child’s state. They review it and forward it to the compact administrator in the family’s state.
The receiving state’s compact administrator reviews the information and forwards it to the family’s agency.
The family’s agency conducts a home study and makes a recommendation about the suitability of the placement. The administrators in both states review the home study and recommendation.
If the child is placed, the role of supervising the child’s placement and ensuring that their needs are met and services are received transfers to the family’s agency. They provide periodic reports to the child’s agency through the compact administrators.
The sending state retains legal and financial responsibility for the child until they are legally adopted, reach the age of majority, or become self-supporting.

To learn more, read these frequently asked questions about the ICPC on the American Public Human Services Association website.

How are the child’s benefits affected by placement in another state?

Monthly adoption subsidies are usually paid for by the sending state at the rate of the receiving state for foster care and at the rate of the sending state for adoption. For example, if a child moves from California to Arizona for a foster placement, California pays the Arizona foster care reimbursement rate. But if the child is moving to Arizona to be adopted, then California will pay the California rate, even if the parents are foster parents at the time.

Health coverage is different. For children eligible for Title IV-E federal adoption benefits—all of the children featured on the AdoptUSKids photolisting—Medicaid coverage transfers to the state where the adoptive family lives. Coverage is granted automatically, but parents may need to complete a form.

When the child has special needs and qualifies for state- or federally funded adoption assistance, a second agreement, the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA), comes into play. It ensures seamless transfer of Medicaid and eliminates the need for new eligibility determinations when children move to a new state.

Learn more:

Search for adoption assistance by state at the Child Welfare Information Gateway website.
View ICAMA guidelines for adoption workers (116 KB PDF) from the Missouri Department of Social Services website.
Read more about benefits—including nonrecurring adoption expenses and Title IV-E federal adoption benefits—at the website of the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

How long does the interstate adoption process usually take?

Federal law requires that interstate home studies are completed within 60 days. Placement of the child must be made within six months of approval. Electronic transfer of records and border agreements can reduce the amount of time it takes to accomplish an interstate placement.

National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE)

NEICE is a federal project facilitating electronic transfer of records. Participating states report a substantial saving of time and costs.

Read more and find a list of states using NEICE on the website of the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.

Resources for interstate collaboration

Border agreements

Border agreements are just that—contracts that are entered into among neighboring states to expedite placements while ensuring that children’s safety and access to resources they need. Agreement details vary by state. For example, a border agreement might allow workers to conduct home studies in another jurisdiction or families to complete pre-service training in another county or region.

You can find a list of border agreements for your state at the ICPC State Pages website.

State child abuse registries

We’ve compiled this listing of state child abuse registry contacts to help you conduct the background checks required by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

Can I Adopt a Child from Another State if I Live in California?

Thousands of parents around the country resort to adoption to make their parenting dreams come true. While some prospective parents may adopt children from their home state, others may decide to explore options for adoption from other states. Our Ventura adoption lawyers explain more about the adoption process in California and how you can adopt a child from another state.

What is the Adoption Process in California?

Adoption is a legal process by which adoptive parents acquire custody and parental rights over the adopted children. Adopting a child means providing food, shelter, education, and all other necessary things to raise the child. Usually, you will start the adoption process by contacting a private or public, licensed adoption agency or your local California Department of Social Services (CDSS). The hopeful parents will receive information from the adoption agency or CDSS explaining all matters related to adoption. Should the potential parents decide to move on with the adoption process, they will be required to follow several requirements.

California requires adoptive parents to be at least ten years older than their prospective adoptive child. As part of the adoption process, the potential parents must undergo several legal procedures including home assessment, criminal background checks, and other steps before being approved for adoption by the state of California.

The in-home inspection and investigation – performed by a social worker – is designed to make sure you can provide a safe and nurturing home environment for the adoptive child. Additionally, you will be required to show evidence of employment, finances, health, marriage certificates, and other relevant paperwork.

After you have completed the adoption process and a child is placed in your home, you will have to undergo a final assessment procedure. Before the final adoption decree is declared in your favor, you will have to go through a minimum of six months of post-placement supervision. During this six-month period, a social worker will perform periodic visits to make sure the adopted child is adapting well to his or her new home.

You can lose your opportunity to adopt if you or any adult in your household is found to be a convicted felon or has a history of spousal abuse, child abuse, neglect, or other criminal conduct. All of these elements are set forth by state law to ensure the child’s well-being and safety.

Can I Adopt from Out of State?

Many families may want to adopt a child residing in another state. Fortunately, you can adopt a child living outside your state borders by meeting specific criteria.

The interstate adoption process is similar to the one adoptive parents must go through within California. However, in addition to complying with the adoption laws in their state, prospective parents must comply with the rules set by the child’s state. For instance, if you are a prospective parent adopting a child living in Colorado, you will need to comply with both California and Colorado adoption laws and rules.

When adopting a child from another state, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is involved. The ICPC sets rules for overseeing all parties’ compliance with the child’s state’s laws before transferring the adoptee. All prospective parents must make sure to satisfy the criteria set by the ICPC to receive their child. Generally, a social worker will guide you through the necessary steps to meet the ICPC’s requirements, but you can contact a lawyer for additional guidance.

Californians can also adopt children from another country. To adopt a child from another country, you must be a U.S. resident and found eligible to adopt under federal and state laws. Additionally, you must be found eligible to adopt under the laws of the prospective child’s country. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the agency in charge of determining whether you are eligible to adopt a child from another country. Therefore, you cannot bring a child from another country into California unless the USCIS determines you can.

According to the USCIS, you must meet the following criteria to adopt from another country:

You must be a U.S citizen.
You must be 25 years old if you are single.
If you are married, both you and your spouse must adopt jointly, and your spouse has to be a U.S. citizen or meet other criteria. This applies if you are separated, but not if you are divorced.
You must undergo procedures such as criminal background checks, home studies, and other criteria.

Ventura Family Law Attorneys Handling Interstate Adoptions in California

Going through the legal paperwork associated with adoption can be complicated. At The Law Offices of Bamieh and De Smeth, we understand all you want is to become an adoptive parent. Let our experience and skill work for you. Our Ventura family law attorneys can help our clients navigate the entire adoption process. To learn more about your case in a free, confidential consultation, call our law offices today at (805) 643-5555.

what is the difficulty of their adoption?

“Don't be afraid of being different,” says Alexandra Yagodkina from Magnitogorsk, Misha's adoptive mother. - A child who looks like you, he still does not look like anyone else. This is personality." Photo - from the Yagodkin family archive.

The database of orphans contains profiles of hundreds of children whose biological parents are citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics. Many Russian adoptive parents would gladly accept such babies into their families, but they are afraid of difficulties with paperwork and potential cancellation of the adoption. Yes, and guardianship officials in informal conversations often advise “not to mess” with “national” children.

Meanwhile, the problem is not banal everyday racism. There is a known case with the cancellation of the adoption of a Tajik baby - a child who lived in a prosperous Russian family for six months was sent to a Tajik shelter, the adoption was canceled. How to avoid such a dramatic scenario? The correspondent of the Change One Life Foundation spoke with experts and found out what guardians and adoptive parents should be prepared for when they decide to take children without Russian citizenship.

“Caregivers face the shocking callousness of those who make decisions about children”

Natalia Karagodina, lawyer, specialist in family law:

“This topic is extremely painful for many adoptive parents and for me personally. Officials and experts in the field of international law do not seem to understand that the fate of children is behind the documents.

Alas, in addition to the cancellation of the adoption of a boy from Tajikistan, there are other similar cases when the solution to the issue of the fate of the child is approached purely formally and, even worse, protecting, first of all, their own interests.

Court hearings on adoption or cancellation of adoption are held behind closed doors, and we do not always know about them.

In 1993, the countries - the former republics of the USSR - signed in Minsk the "Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters". However, in reality, it turns out that although the Minsk Convention was signed and ratified, including in the interests of placing orphans, in fact, its application sometimes leads to the opposite.

Moreover, the Minsk Convention is often applied and interpreted incorrectly. Thus, the Minsk Convention requires that children - citizens of the countries participating in the convention - be transferred to a family only with the consent of the competent authorities of the state of the child's citizenship. At the same time, the Minsk Convention does not regulate the question of what to do if no response is received, and what to do if the child has dual citizenship.

Russia ratified the 1996 Hague Convention, according to which it is possible to establish guardianship in some cases in respect of foreign citizens without seeking the consent of the competent authorities of the state of the child's citizenship.

Adopted children become citizens of the Russian Federation by virtue of adoption, wards have the right to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. Foster parents make Russian citizenship for children quite easy.

The administration of children's institutions also issues Russian citizenship to children. It turns out that such children also have Russian citizenship - that is, at least double. This means that they need to be protected as Russian citizens too.

In my opinion, there are three aspects to this problem.

1. P procedure for the actions of guardianship authorities in case of interest of Russian adoptive parents in a child without Russian citizenship.

In order to adopt a child who is a citizen of a foreign state, you must first obtain the consent of this country. Guardianship authorities must write a corresponding request to the competent authorities, negotiate, wait for a response. Adoption or placement under guardianship is possible if the answer is positive.

At the same time, a child - a foreign citizen, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, has the same rights as citizens of Russia, including, according to Articles 121-123 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, can be transferred to a family for upbringing.

How does it happen with us? Foster parents receive a conclusion on the possibility of being a guardian or adoptive parent, then they look for a child, visit him in a children's institution, establish contact with him and sign an agreement.

And only later, when the contact has already been established, when the child and parents develop attachment, and the child is often already under guardianship, officials begin to make appropriate requests to the embassies. As a result, drama happens.

Therefore, in order not to violate the right of every child to a family placement, guardianship authorities should at least find out in advance from a particular state its position regarding a particular child. Of course, this is a time-consuming process, but this is the only way we can avoid situations like the one that happened with a Moscow family that adopted a Tajik baby and lost him six months later by court order.

2. If the child is automatically considered a citizen of the country of which his parents are a citizen (one of them ).

It often happens that a biological mother ends up in a maternity hospital without documents: there is no passport, the residence permit has expired. She gives birth with some kind of "filkin's letter" - for example, with a photocopy of a residence permit that has expired. As a result, in the birth certificate of the child in the column "citizenship of the mother (father)" there is a dash. But the guardianship authorities consider this unimportant and believe that the child is still a citizen of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and so on.

On what basis? Why is my mother a citizen of Uzbekistan if she has not confirmed this with any document? Thus, although the Minsk Convention clearly refers to children who are citizens of a state party to the Minsk Convention, the guardianship authorities include in them all those who had the misfortune to be born from a foreign citizen or stateless person. The citizenship of the child is determined "by eye".

As a result of such actions of the guardianship authorities, the adoptive parents of the baby have a lot of problems that could have been avoided. I am aware of such situations in the Sverdlovsk Region, in the city of Vidnoye, Moscow Region.

Another example: a few years ago a child was seized from a group of drunken men. It turned out that his mother was born during the Soviet era in some Ukrainian city, and her citizenship was not indicated in the birth certificate of the child.

The child was adopted by foreign citizens, it was necessary to issue him a passport. The local FMS refused, citing the fact that the citizenship of the blood mother is unknown. The result of the campaign for a passport was the abolition of adoption as illegal!

We appealed this court decision, and, thank God, it was canceled, the child remained in the family. Issued and ill-fated passport. True, they managed to do this only after a complaint to the leadership of the Russian migration service. The saddest thing is that the Federal Migration Service recognized the child as a citizen of the Russian Federation, and the guardianship and guardianship authorities played a very unseemly role in this matter!

3. Attitude towards guardianship as a temporary way of placing a child in a family.

On the one hand, adoption is a priority form of family placement, on the other hand, guardianship is assigned in most cases of transferring a child to family upbringing, and on the third hand, not all children can or want to be adopted. Transferring a child out of custody to the authorities of a neighboring state seems normal.

Yes, formally guardianship is indeed a temporary measure, but in reality guardians in the overwhelming majority of cases raise adopted children as their own, without making any distinctions.

Why, then, is it possible to separate the guardian and the ward child? After all, there is already affection between them, they love each other, and this is the most important thing.

LET ORPHANS HAVE PARENTS

I know the situation: the guardians of a baby from Uzbekistan have been waiting for a response from the consulate for many months in order to be able to adopt him. The child lives in the family for more than two years, but there is no answer - neither positive nor negative. The guardian spoke with the consular officer, but the conversation cannot be sewn to the point, and the fate of the child remains uncertain. But he is used to his parents, he calls them mom and dad.

Alas, sometimes guardians are confronted with simply amazing heartlessness of people who make decisions regarding orphans.

There is a known case when the department of guardianship refused to make a request to the Ukrainian embassy about the possibility of adopting a 4-year-old boy: they say, they will still refuse ... A fresh example: a boy, a citizen of Ukraine, was brought to Russia in a terrible state, weakened and exhausted. The father is in a prison in Donetsk, nothing is known about the mother.

According to the Hague Convention 1996 years old, it is possible to establish custody of a child without the consent of the embassy, but for some reason the potential guardian was denied this. The boy got into the family only after the guardian filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office, the President. Why should guardians take some non-trivial actions (write complaints, consult with lawyers, negotiate with embassies) to help the child? After all, the interests of the child should be protected by guardianship authorities.

Finally, as a lawyer, I cannot fail to note: in addition to all the enumerated normative acts, in 1989, the USSR ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art. 3 of which states that in all actions, no matter who takes them, it is necessary to proceed from the best interests of the child. And the most important thing for him, of course, is the right to live and be brought up in a family.”

“We need a legally competent mechanism for the actions of guardianship authorities and foster parents”

Natalya Gorodiskaya, foster mother of many children, chairman of the Council of Foster Families Associations under the Ministry of Education of Russia, president of the Union of Foster Families:

“Due to circumstances, there are many children left by foreign citizens in Russian institutions for orphans. Most often these are babies born by migrant workers from the CIS countries. There are also children from other countries bordering Russia - for example, in Khabarovsk.

At the same time, many Russian adoptive parents, as far as I know, are ready to accept "national" children into the family, some even specifically select a child of non-Slavic appearance.

However, in order to avoid situations like the one that happened with a baby from Tajikistan, a legally competent mechanism for the actions of guardianship authorities and foster parents should be developed.

Obviously, in the case of the cancellation of the adoption of a Tajik boy, the guardianship authorities did not finalize, and the parents and the child were hostages of the situation. Employees of the guardianship authorities must understand the full responsibility for their actions (as well as for inaction). After all, no matter how pathetic it may sound, we are talking about human destiny.

There are no "national" children in my family, but I know many foster parents who have adopted such a child. Surrounding people usually react quite normally to a “different” family member. I think that in our society, manifestations of everyday racism are rather rare: we come from the USSR, where the idea of friendship between peoples was instilled in kindergarten.”

"We know stories of foreign adoptions with happy endings"

Yana Leonova, Director of the Change One Life Foundation:

“In order to formalize the adoption of a child whose parents are citizens of one of the CIS countries, the guardianship authorities must request the consent of the respective country. From practice it is obvious that, for example, Tajikistan usually refuses and does not give its citizens for foreign adoption. Embassies of other CIS countries respond differently in different circumstances.

In general, if the guardianship and guardianship authorities have taken all the necessary actions and followed all the procedures when registering a child, the adoptive parents should not have problems.

Absolutely strange, of course, are individual stories when a child is “pulled out” already from the family and sent not to the family, but again to an orphanage, but already at home. To prevent this from happening again, it is important to strictly follow the letter of the law in this matter. Expectant parents need to have an understanding of the procedures in order to be able to verify that they are being followed. We know stories of foreign adoptions with happy endings."

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Citizens of unfriendly countries want to be banned from adopting children from Russia

State Duma deputies believe that children are supervised in Russia orphans from Russia to citizens of unfriendly countries. Its authors were deputies from all parties except United Russia. In the explanatory note, the authors say that in 2021 foreign adoptive parents had 17,498, and the Russians have 455,866 orphans.

According to the co-author of the bill, Yana Lantratova (“Fair Russia”), children should be given away only if it is possible to trace their fate: “When crossing the border, the child leaves the field of our jurisdiction, and we will no longer be able to help him , to protect, if such assistance is required. Especially when it comes to unfriendly countries. ” The government approved the list of foreign states “committing unfriendly acts” against the Russian Federation, its citizens or legal entities in May 2021. The list includes only the United States and the Czech Republic. In March 2022, against the backdrop of hostilities in Ukraine, the list was expanded for the first time, now it contains 49states.

Deputies believe that the experience of the adoption in 2012 of the Russian response to the "Magnitsky act", which prohibited the adoption of Russians by Americans (the so-called "Dima Yakovlev law"), was "the right decision." But the deputies did not propose to correct the law “On measures of influence on unfriendly actions of the United States and other foreign states”. They decided to amend only Art. 127 and 146 of the Family Code (SC). In Art. 127 lists persons who cannot act as adoptive parents. Now these are persons deprived of parental rights, persons who had a criminal record, incapacitated, etc. In Art. 146 contains a similar list of prohibitions relating to guardianship. It is in these norms of the UK that it is proposed to prescribe that citizens of unfriendly states cannot adopt or take custody of children.

BGP Litigation lawyer Gayane Shtoyan, who deals with transnational children's disputes, notes that the ban on the adoption of children by foreigners proposed in the draft law is not absolute: “The ban is partial – we are talking about citizens only of those countries that were previously included in the list of so-called unfriendly” . She adds that the measure is positioned as temporary: the authorities leave the potential opportunity to re-allow adoption in the future if the country is excluded from the list of unfriendly states by the White House. Kirill Reznik, lawyer of the Unified Protection Center, says that, according to the ratified in 1990 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, foreign citizens in Russia have the right to adopt children, but the Russian Federation is not obliged in 100% of cases to provide them with the opportunity to use this right: “The Convention establishes only the fundamental possibility of international adoption, but the list of countries that may be involved in this procedure is not specified.