Vermont Statutes
Chapter 59 - Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
§ 5904. Jurisdiction

§ 5904. Jurisdiction
(a) Except as provided in subsection (h) of this section and subdivisions 5905(b)(2) and (3) of this title, paragraphs two and three concerning private and independent adoptions, and in interstate placements in which the public child placing agency is not a party to a custody proceeding, the sending state shall retain jurisdiction over a child with respect to all matters of custody and disposition of the child that it would have had if the child had remained in the sending state. Such jurisdiction shall also include the power to order the return of the child to the sending state.
(b) When an issue of child protection or custody is brought before a court in the receiving state, such court shall confer with the court of the sending state to determine the most appropriate forum for adjudication.
(c) In cases that are before courts and subject to this Compact, the taking of testimony for hearings before any judicial officer may occur in person or by telephone, audio-video conference, or such other means as approved by the rules of the Interstate Commission; and judicial officers may communicate with other judicial officers and persons involved in the interstate process as may be permitted by their Canons of Judicial Conduct and any rules promulgated by the Interstate Commission.
(d) In accordance with its own laws, the court in the sending state shall have authority to terminate its jurisdiction if any of the following occur:
(1) The child is reunified with the parent in the receiving state who is the subject of allegations or findings of abuse or neglect, only with the concurrence of the public child placing agency in the receiving state.
(2) The child is adopted.
(3) The child reaches the age of majority under the laws of the sending state.
(4) The child achieves legal independence pursuant to the laws of the sending state.
(5) A guardianship is created by a court in the receiving state with the concurrence of the court in the sending state.
(6) An Indian tribe has petitioned for and received jurisdiction from the court in the sending state.
(7) The public child placing agency of the sending state requests termination and has obtained the concurrence of the public child placing agency in the receiving state.
(e) When a sending state court terminates its jurisdiction, the receiving state child placing agency shall be notified.
(f) Nothing in this section shall defeat a claim of jurisdiction by a receiving state court sufficient to deal with an act of truancy, delinquency, crime, or behavior involving a child as defined by the laws of the receiving state committed by the child in the receiving state that would be a violation of its laws.
(g) Nothing in this article shall limit the receiving state’s ability to take emergency jurisdiction for the protection of the child.
(h) The substantive laws of the state in which an adoption will be finalized shall solely govern all issues relating to the adoption of the child, and the court in which the adoption proceeding is filed shall have subject matter jurisdiction regarding all substantive issues relating to the adoption, except:
(1) when the child is a ward of another court that established jurisdiction over the child prior to the placement; or
(2) when the child is in the legal custody of a public agency in the sending state; or
(3) when a court in the sending state has otherwise appropriately assumed jurisdiction over the child, prior to the submission of the request for approval of placement.
(i) A final decree of adoption shall not be entered in any jurisdiction until the placement is authorized as an “approved placement” by the public child placing agency in the receiving state. (Contingently added 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)