Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the sending agency/state?

The sending agency/state is the State or County/Court/Agency/Parent or Guardian which sends a child to another member state.

What is the receiving state?

The receiving state is the state to which the child is sent.

What is a placement?

A placement is the arrangement for the care of a child in a foster home or in a child-caring agency or institution, including placement with a relative, or into a pre-adoptive home.

What types of interstate placements are subject to the ICPC?

The ICPC applies to the following:

• Placement preliminary to an adoption (adoptions include placements made by public agencies or birth parents).
• Placement into foster care (foster care placements are those in licensed/approved foster family homes, including homes of relatives).
• Placement with parents and relatives when a parent or relative is not making the placement.
• Placement into a residential facility (including placements into residential treatment centers, group homes and childcare institutions).

What types of interstate placements are not subject to the ICPC?

• Placements into schools where the primary purpose for the placement is educational.
• Placements into medical and mental facilities.
• Placements made by a child’s parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult sister or brother, adult aunt, or uncle, or non-agency guardian with any such relative or non-agency guardian.

Who supervises the placement after a child is placed in the receiving state?

The receiving state provides courtesy supervision of a child until the ICPC case is closed, except for placements into an out-of-state residential facility.

When can an ICPC case be closed?

An ICPC case can be closed only when a child is adopted, reaches age of majority, or becomes self-supporting or when the appropriate authorities in the sending state and receiving state concur that the ICPC case can be closed.

How does the Resource Family Approval process impact ICPC?

For placements of dependent youth into California, relatives/foster parents/potential adoptive parents/non-relative extended family members must complete the Resource Family Approval process. Resource Family Approval (RFA) Home Page.