[NotAMomYet]

I am considering noting interest in an out-of-state sibling group from a photo listing service. Being new to this, I have a few questions. First, a bit of background:

We are recently licensed for foster adoption in the State of Washington. We have NO children and have not had any foster placements. Our home study and license state that the children we are interested in meet our license criteria. The children are in Idaho and are “legally free” at this time.

The questions:
1) If we bring children from Idaho, are those children then wards of the State of Washington, or are they still under Idaho’s jurisdiction?

2) When an adoption is finalized, do we go to court in the originating county or in the county in which we reside?

3) If children are eligible for subsidy payments in their home state, does that transfer to the new state? Is the subsidy then based on the original or the current state’s payment plans? (We’re not in it for the money, despite what those questions sound like.)

4) What is a “typical” timeline for ICPC paper work? (We’ve done our share of immigration paperwork, so this won’t scare us off!)

5) Are there any tips, tricks, or tidbits of which I should be aware?

Thank you for any help you can offer!

[Christians-Mommy]

Hi I live in Idaho so I can see if I can answer a couple of questions.

I am not sure if the kid's transfer custody or not but I do know there has to be a worker to supervise the case in Washington from your department. That is generally an adoption worker.

Not sure on #2

If subsidy's do come with the children the rates are those of the original state as far as I know. So Idaho. If you are adopting from Idaho you can 't be in it for the money for sure

Average time line I think would be two to three months. There is a lot of paperwork and caseworkers get busy but they do have time constraints to work in.

I have heard of sending a bio sheet with your home study with a picture and information about your family and your skills that are shared in a more personal manner than a home study. Just one page but make it interesting facts and tidbits and include relevant experiences you may have.

Also I am friends with a Wednesday's child adoption coordinator and so if that is the photo listing you can email me and I might be able to help you out! Just PM me!

Hope this helps

[hkolln]

We adopted our niece from Idaho so I'll try and answer your questions on how her case went and the ICPC process.

Originally Posted by NotAMomYet

The questions:
1) If we bring children from Idaho, are those children then wards of the State of Washington, or are they still under Idaho’s jurisdiction?

Idaho would not move our jurisdiction. They held all court hearings and legal stuff in Idaho. Once we got to the adoption stage they did move jurisdiction only for the time to finalize the adoption. From what I understand Idaho (and other states) make so much money on each adoption therefore moving jurisdictions can be hard.

2) When an adoption is finalized, do we go to court in the originating county or in the county in which we reside?

We had a choice. The SW in Idaho asked us. Being we're all the way in FL and didn't wish to travel all the way back to Idaho we opted to finalize locally. As I mentioned in the previous response Idaho did release jursdiction only for finalization of the adoption here.

3) If children are eligible for subsidy payments in their home state, does that transfer to the new state? Is the subsidy then based on the original or the current state’s payment plans? (We’re not in it for the money, despite what those questions sound like.)

Our subsidy agreement was done thru Idaho also. The SW worked with us on typing up a letter regarding why we wanted subsidy and sent it to Boise for approval. We receive Idaho's stipend of 300 per month til 18 so the monies relate to Idaho's stipend and not your states. We do have Florida Medicaid...and because the SW refused to transfer jurisdiction our daughter lost out on the 4 yr scholarship for college that Florida offers. Her response was "Some states can afford to give that benefit and Idaho can't" but still refused to move the jursidiction even with our attorney pushing for it. We did get the monthly stipend each month and a 2k travel expense reimbursement and Medicaid til 18.

4) What is a “typical” timeline for ICPC paper work? (We’ve done our share of immigration paperwork, so this won’t scare us off!)

Idaho was very hard to work with but then again the ICPC is a pain (well was for us!). It took us a good 7 months to get something done and then our state (Florida) forgot to send our license to Idaho which slowed it down even more. If you are interested now then I suggest you get the process going NOW. Paperwork sits on peoples desks for weeks and slows it down. We had our local state representatives office involved to push paperwork thru more quickly. But from what I have experienced the ICPC process needs alot of overhaul. I have tons of contact names/numbers if you need them.

5) Are there any tips, tricks, or tidbits of which I should be aware?

Just get the process going now if you are interested. Know that the ICPC process is very long in some cases. I thought ours would never be approved! I'm familiar with alot of Idaho laws and the subsidy if you have anymore questions.

Good luck!

[NotAMomYet]

Thank you, both, for your replies. It always helps to hear from those who've "been there, done that"!

[LNSDQ160]

Oh goodness...all that just makes my head spend. We're hoping to adopt from another state once dh returns to the country and I'm in the process of becoming a foster mother (I was told dh would be added on upon is return), does this process become harder for miltiary families?

[Sonialei77]

Hi, I'm not in Idaho or Washington, but being that our adoption went through ICPC I can tell you that in general ICPC usually takes a while. Things have been updated in many states since our placement, so you might want to see if your state has any new laws regarding ICPC.

For example, I submitted our letter of Intent on 1/11/04 but our county did not recieve our ICPC request for a homestudy until 11/23/06. Texas just passed a new law that once an ICPC request comes in (they go from one state capitol to another then trickle down to the regional/county level) to the Capitol... Texas has 6 wks to expedite the request and return the homestudy to the state of Origin.

Usually the State of Origin, in your case Idaho will be the one to issue out adoption subsidy because the adoption agreement is essentially a "Contract" and if Medicaid is included in your subsidy which 80% of the time is, The State that holds wardship of the children will then work with Your state to get the medicaid in place, and that too can take months. (I am still waiting for mine!)

The Per Diem is almost always paid out according to the current per diem where the children will reside. For example, if Idaho pays $ 25.00 per day, per child and Washington pays $ 20.00 per day, per child then you will obviously get what your state is paying.

The State of Origin will hold "Jurisdiction" over the children until consummation, and at this point during the final permanency hearing they will decide whether or not you will be able to consummate in the county in which the children will be residing with you. Most states usually don't allow this but from my experience and research during our "waiting period" I learned that it's EASIER to consummate/finalize the adoption by returning to the State of Origin.

I say this because if you qualify for NRAE which essentially means that the state of origin will pay a fixed amount per child to go towards your adoption expenses, and in the event that they do qualify and you finalize in their state then the attorney will directly bill the state without you having to pay then get reimbursed. That's not to say that you won't end up paying anything, but you'll only be out $300-500 rather than $ 4000.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Good Luck,

[hkolln]

Originally Posted by Sonialei77

The Per Diem is almost always paid out according to the current per diem where the children will reside. For example, if Idaho pays $ 25.00 per day, per child and Washington pays $ 20.00 per day, per child then you will obviously get what your state is paying.

Definitely not true in our case. The adoption subsidy along with our foster care stipend came from Idaho is 300.00/month which is Idaho's maximum. Florida, where we live and our daughter resided before we adopted her, has a higher stipend then Idaho however our stipend was based on Idaho's stipend. Our adoptiion subsidy is also based on Idaho's max too and not Florida's.

[hkolln]

Originally Posted by Sonialei77

The State of Origin will hold "Jurisdiction" over the children until consummation, and at this point during the final permanency hearing they will decide whether or not you will be able to consummate in the county in which the children will be residing with you. Most states usually don't allow this but from my experience and research during our "waiting period" I learned that it's EASIER to consummate/finalize the adoption by returning to the State of Origin.

This also was different in our case too (and she came from idaho to Florida). Yes, Idaho held jurisdication on the foster care and court cases however Idaho allowed us to finalize here, in Florida and at our county courthouse. Saved us tons of money to travel there too! I didn't feel it was "easier" to finalize in Idaho because it would have cost us ALOT of money to travel there to do that.

[LNSDQ160]

I'm curious to know, how can I submit a letter of intent? I've tried to contact my local agencies to have a homestudy completed, but I keep getting the run around and told that I have to wait a year after trying to adopt in my state before they will "allow" up to adopt from another state. I'm also told the process is extremely longer than an in state adoption. Any information on this would be great. Thanks!

[Binny]

My understanding is that you do have to wait and give the state a year to get you kids in your own state first, before they are willing to do the work to get you out of state kids. How long have you been licensed?