[eeettt]

I've had my foster son for 3 months, he was placed as a pre adoptive placement. The dependency investigator is reccomending TPR. But now the paternal grandparents are interested. They have ordered ICPC. My question is how long does it take? They are in New Mexico, I'm in California. Will the court order visits? Is the ICPC a normal home study with background checks and everything?

[elizabeth30]

It depends on how quickly they fill out all of the paperwork. If they pass it will probably be 3-6 months and it could take up to a year. My fs took six months. They knew it was approved sooner but it takes time for all of the paperwork to go through. As soon as the fingerprints go through then they can visit and the SW will set up visits depending on how often they visit.

[azpa1995]

I live in NM. The relatives will have to be fully licensed, and depending on what county they live in, that could take 3 months or 6 months. The ICPC goes faster if they keep on the state office. We had an ICPC for our foster daughter to leave for Chicago, and once the relatives were licensed and sent their paperwork on NM, it only took a few weeks.

[eeettt]

Thanks,
I'm glad they have to be checked out. It puts my mind at ease. If he has to leave I want him to be in a good home.

[racingwife20]

We went through the process of an ICPC with our FFS - it was supposed to take 3 months but took nearly 9 and then the relative wasn't approved. The tricky part about ICPC is what the receiving state and sending state require - which is usually different. In our case, our state (sending state) didn't require the relative to be licensed, but her state did. She couldn't have visitation with FFS until she had a background check - even though her state didn't require that.

It's a lengthy process, and I think it's to ensure that the kids go to a safe home - it doesn't look good if the states don't follow protocol and show due diligence before removing a child from FC and placing them with an out of state relative.

[eeettt]

Fully licensed? Does that mean they have to do the foster parenting classed to? I could see why it would take a while.

[StephanieMB]

Our FS's mom has been going through the ICPC red tape since October. It could easily be several more months and then she might not pass. Our state is more strict than her state and is requiring things from her that her state wouldn't press for.

DCS initially told us that best case scenario would be 2-3 months. But apparently that doesn't happen very often.