Vermont Statutes
Chapter 59 - Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
§ 5905. Placement evaluation

§ 5905. Placement evaluation
(a) Prior to sending, bringing, or causing a child to be sent or brought into a receiving state, the public child placing agency shall provide a written request for assessment to the receiving state.
(b) For placements by a private child placing agency, a child may be sent or brought, or caused to be sent or brought, into a receiving state, upon receipt and immediate review of the required content in a request for approval of a placement in both the sending and receiving state public child placing agency. The required content to accompany a request for approval shall include all of the following:
(1) a request for approval identifying the child, birth parent or parents, the prospective adoptive parent or parents, and the supervising agency, signed by the person requesting approval;
(2) the appropriate consents or relinquishments signed by the birth parents in accordance with the laws of the sending state or, where permitted, the laws of the state where the adoption will be finalized;
(3) certification by a licensed attorney or authorized agent of a private adoption agency that the consent or relinquishment is in compliance with the applicable laws of the sending state or, where permitted, the laws of the state where finalization of the adoption will occur;
(4) a home study; and
(5) an acknowledgment of legal risk signed by the prospective adoptive parents.
(c) The sending state and the receiving state may request additional information or documents prior to finalization of an approved placement, but they may not delay travel by the prospective adoptive parents with the child if the required content for approval has been submitted, received, and reviewed by the public child placing agency in both the sending state and the receiving state.
(d) Approval from the public child placing agency in the receiving state for a provisional or approved placement is required as provided for in the rules of the Interstate Commission.
(e) The procedures for making and the request for an assessment shall contain all information and be in such form as provided for in the rules of the Interstate Commission.
(f) Upon receipt of a request from the public child placing agency of the sending state, the receiving state shall initiate an assessment of the proposed placement to determine its safety and suitability. If the proposed placement is a placement with a relative, the public child placing agency of the sending state may request a determination for a provisional placement.
(g) The public child placing agency in the receiving state may request from the public child placing agency or the private child placing agency in the sending state, and shall be entitled to receive, supporting or additional information necessary to complete the assessment or approve the placement.
(h) The public child placing agency in the receiving state shall approve a provisional placement and complete or arrange for the completion of the assessment within the time frames established by the rules of the Interstate Commission.
(i) For a placement by a private child placing agency, the sending state shall not impose any additional requirements to complete the home study that are not required by the receiving state, unless the adoption is finalized in the sending state.
(j) The Interstate Commission may develop uniform standards for the assessment of the safety and suitability of interstate placements. (Contingently added 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)