Vermont Statutes
Chapter 59 - Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
§ 5902. Definitions

§ 5902. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Approved placement” means the public child placing agency in the receiving state has determined that the placement is both safe and suitable for the child.
(2) “Assessment” means an evaluation of a prospective placement by a public child placing agency in the receiving state to determine if the placement meets the individualized needs of the child, including but not limited to the child’s safety and stability, health and well-being, and mental, emotional, and physical development. An assessment is only applicable to a placement by a public child placing agency.
(3) “Child” means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age.
(4) “Certification” means to attest, declare, or swear to before a judge or notary public.
(5) “Default” means the failure of a member state to perform the obligations or responsibilities imposed upon it by this Compact, the bylaws, or rules of the Interstate Commission.
(6) “Home Study” means an evaluation of a home environment conducted in accordance with the applicable requirements of the state in which the home is located, and documents the preparation and the suitability of the placement resource for placement of a child in accordance with the laws and requirements of the state in which the home is located.
(7) “Indian tribe” means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians recognized as eligible for services provided to Indians by the Secretary of the Interior because of their status as Indians, including any Alaskan native village as defined in section 3(c) of the Alaska Native Claims settlement Act at 43 U.S.C. § 1602(c).
(8) “Interstate Commission for the Placement of Children” means the commission that is created under section 5908 of this title and that is generally referred to as the Interstate Commission.
(9) “Jurisdiction” means the power and authority of a court to hear and decide matters.
(10) “Legal Risk Placement” (Legal Risk Adoption) means a placement made preliminary to an adoption where the prospective adoptive parents acknowledge in writing that a child can be ordered returned to the sending state or the birth mother’s state of residence, if different from the sending state, and a final decree of adoption shall not be entered in any jurisdiction until all required consents are obtained or are dispensed with in accordance with applicable law.
(11) “Member state” means a state that has enacted this Compact.
(12) “Noncustodial parent” means a person who, at the time of the commencement of court proceedings in the sending state, does not have sole legal custody of the child or has joint legal custody of a child, and who is not the subject of allegations or findings of child abuse or neglect.
(13) “Nonmember state” means a state that has not enacted this Compact.
(14) “Notice of residential placement” means information regarding a placement into a residential facility provided to the receiving state, including but not limited to the name, date and place of birth of the child, the identity and address of the parent or legal guardian, evidence of authority to make the placement, and the name and address of the facility in which the child will be placed. Notice of residential placement shall also include information regarding a discharge and any unauthorized absence from the facility.
(15) “Placement” means the act by a public or private child placing agency intended to arrange for the care or custody of a child in another state.
(16) “Private child placing agency” means any private corporation, agency, foundation, institution, or charitable organization or any private person or attorney that facilitates, causes, or is involved in the placement of a child from one state to another and that is not an instrumentality of the state or acting under color of state law.
(17) “Provisional placement” means a determination made by the public child placing agency in the receiving state that the proposed placement is safe and suitable, and, to the extent allowable, the receiving state has temporarily waived its standards or requirements otherwise applicable to prospective foster or adoptive parents so as to not delay the placement. Completion of the receiving state requirements regarding training for prospective foster or adoptive parents shall not delay an otherwise safe and suitable placement.
(18) “Public child placing agency” means any government child welfare agency or child protection agency or a private entity under contract with such an agency, regardless of whether they act on behalf of a state, county, municipality, or other governmental unit, that facilitates, causes, or is involved in the placement of a child from one state to another.
(19) “Receiving state” means the state to which a child is sent, brought, or caused to be sent or brought.
(20) “Relative” means someone who is related to the child as a parent, step-parent, sibling by half or whole blood or by adoption, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or first cousin or a non-relative with such significant ties to the child that the person may be regarded as a relative as determined by the court in the sending state.
(21) “Residential facility” means a facility providing a level of care that is sufficient to substitute for parental responsibility or foster care and is beyond what is needed for assessment or treatment of an acute condition. For purposes of the Compact, residential facilities do not include institutions primarily educational in character, hospitals, or other medical facilities.
(22) “Rule” means a written directive, mandate, standard, or principle issued by the Interstate Commission promulgated pursuant to section 5911 of this title that is of general applicability and that implements, interprets, or prescribes a policy or provision of the Compact. “Rule” has the force and effect of an administrative rule in a member state and includes the amendment, repeal, or suspension of an existing rule.
(23) “Sending state” means the state from which the placement of a child is initiated.
(24) “Service member’s permanent duty station” means the military installation where an active duty U.S. Armed Forces member is currently assigned and is physically located under competent orders that do not specify the duty as temporary.
(25) “Service member’s state of legal residence” means the state in which the active duty U.S. Armed Forces member is considered a resident for tax and voting purposes.
(26) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas Islands, and any other territory of the United States.
(27) “State court” means a judicial body of a state that is vested by law with responsibility for adjudicating cases involving abuse, neglect, deprivation, delinquency, or status offenses of individuals who have not attained 18 years of age.
(28) “Supervision” means monitoring provided by the receiving state once a child has been placed in a receiving state pursuant to this Compact. (Contingently added 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)