Vermont Statutes Title 33 Sec. 5903_v3
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 33 Sec. 5903_v3
- Child: means a person who, by reason of minority, is legally subject to parental, guardianship, or similar control. See
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Jurisdiction: means the power and authority of a court to hear and decide matters. See
- Member state: means a state that has enacted this Compact. See
- 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. See
- 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. See
- Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
- Placement: means the arrangement for the care of a child in a family free or boarding home or in a child-caring agency or institution but does not include any institution caring for the mentally ill, mentally defective, or epileptic or any institution primarily educational in character, and any hospital or other medical facility. See
- 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. See
- 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. See
- Receiving state: means the state to which a child is sent, brought, or caused to be sent or brought, whether by public authorities or private persons or agencies, and whether for placement with state or local public authorities or for placement with private agencies or persons. See
- 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. See
- 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. See
- Sending agency: means a party state, officer or employee thereof; a subdivision of a party state, or officer, or employee thereof; a court of a party state; a person, corporation, association, charitable agency, or other entity which sends, brings, or causes to be sent or brought any child to another party state. See
- Sending state: means the state from which the placement of a child is initiated. See
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. See
[Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]
§ 5903. Conditions for placement—Article III [Contingently repealed; Effective until contingency met]
(a) No sending agency shall send, bring, or cause to be sent or brought into any other party state any child for placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption unless the sending agency shall comply with each and every requirement set forth in this article and with the applicable laws of the receiving state governing the placement of children therein.
(b) Prior to sending, bringing, or causing any child to be sent or brought into a receiving state for placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption, the sending agency shall furnish the appropriate public authorities in the receiving state written notice of the intention to send, bring, or place the child in the receiving state. The notice shall contain:
(1) the name, date, and place of birth of the child;
(2) the identity and address or addresses of the parents or legal guardian;
(3) the name and address of the person, agent or institution to or with which the sending agency proposes to send, bring, or place the child;
(4) a full statement of the reasons for such proposed action and evidence of the authority pursuant to which the placement is proposed to be made.
(c) Any public officer or agency in a receiving state which is in receipt of a notice pursuant to subsection (b) of this article may request of the sending agency, or any other appropriate officer or agency of or in the sending agency’s state, and shall be entitled to receive therefrom such supporting or additional information as it may deem necessary under the circumstances to carry out the purpose and policy of this compact.
(d) The child shall not be sent, brought, or caused to be sent or brought into the receiving state until the appropriate public authorities in the receiving state shall notify the sending agency, in writing, to the effect that the proposed placement does not appear to be contrary to the interest of the child. (Added 1971, No. 219 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 5, 1972.)
[Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]
§ 5903. Conditions for placement—Article III [Contingently repealed]
(Added 1971, No. 219 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 5, 1972; contingently repealed by 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)
[Contingently enacted.]
§ 5903. Applicability [Contingently enacted]
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, this Compact shall apply to:
(1) the interstate placement of a child subject to ongoing court jurisdiction in the sending state, due to allegations or findings that the child has been abused, neglected, or deprived as defined by the laws of the sending state; provided, however, that the placement of such a child into a residential facility shall only require notice of residential placement to the receiving state prior to placement;
(2) the interstate placement of a child adjudicated delinquent or unmanageable based on the laws of the sending state and subject to ongoing court jurisdiction of the sending state if:
(A) the child is being placed in a residential facility in another member state and is not covered under another compact; or
(B) the child is being placed in another member state and the determination of safety and suitability of the placement and services required is not provided through another compact; and
(3) the interstate placement of any child by a public child placing agency or private child placing agency as defined in this Compact as a preliminary step to a possible adoption.
(b) The provisions of this Compact shall not apply to:
(1) the interstate placement of a child in a custody proceeding in which a public child placing agency is not a party; provided, however, that the placement is not intended to effectuate an adoption;
(2) the interstate placement of a child with a non-relative in a receiving state by a parent with the legal authority to make such a placement; provided, however, that the placement is not intended to effectuate an adoption;
(3) the interstate placement of a child by one relative with the lawful authority to make such a placement directly with a relative in a receiving state;
(4) the placement of a child, not subject to section 5903 of this title, into a residential facility by the child’s parent;
(5) the placement of a child with a noncustodial parent, provided that:
(A) the noncustodial parent proves to the satisfaction of a court in the sending state a substantial relationship with the child; and
(B) the court in the sending state makes a written finding that placement with the noncustodial parent is in the best interests of the child; and
(C) the court in the sending state dismisses its jurisdiction in interstate placements in which the public child placing agency is a party to the proceeding;
(6) a child entering the United States from a foreign country for the purpose of adoption or leaving the United States to go to a foreign country for the purpose of adoption in that country;
(7) cases in which a U.S. citizen child living overseas with family, at least one of whom is in the U.S. Armed Forces and is stationed overseas, is removed and placed in a state; or
(8) the sending of a child by a public child placing agency or a private child placing agency for a visit as defined by the rules of the Interstate Commission.
(c) For purposes of determining the applicability of this Compact to the placement of a child with a family in the U.S. Armed Forces, the public child placing agency or private child placing agency may choose the state of the service member’s permanent duty station or the service member’s declared legal residence.
(d) Nothing in this Compact shall be construed to prohibit the concurrent application of the provisions of this Compact with other applicable interstate compacts, including the Interstate Compact for Juveniles and the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance. The Interstate Commission may in cooperation with other interstate compact commissions having responsibility for the interstate movement, placement, or transfer of children, promulgate like rules to ensure the coordination of services, timely placement of children, and the reduction of unnecessary or duplicative administrative or procedural requirements. (Contingently added 2021, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)