Vermont Statutes Title 33 Sec. 5904_v2
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 33 Sec. 5904_v2
- Child: means a person who, by reason of minority, is legally subject to parental, guardianship, or similar control. See
- following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
- Indian tribe: means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians recognized as eligible for services provided to Indians by the Secretary of the Interior because of their status as Indians, including any Alaskan native village as defined in section 3(c) of the Alaska Native Claims settlement Act at 43 U. See
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- State court: means a judicial body of a state that is vested by law with responsibility for adjudicating cases involving abuse, neglect, deprivation, delinquency, or status offenses of individuals who have not attained 18 years of age. See
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
[Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]
§ 5904. Penalty for illegal placement—Article IV [Contingently repealed; Effective until contingency met]
The sending, bringing, or causing to be sent or brought into any receiving state of a child in violation of the terms of this compact shall constitute a violation of the laws respecting the placement of children of both the state in which the sending agency is located or from which it sends or brings the child of the receiving state. Such violation may be punished or subjected to penalty in either jurisdiction in accordance with its laws. In addition to liability for any such punishment or penalty, any such violation shall constitute full and sufficient grounds for the suspension or revocation of any license, permit, or other legal authorization held by the sending agency which empowers or allows it to place or care for children. (Added 1971, No. 219 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 5, eff. April 5, 1972.)
[Contingently repealed; effective until contingency met.]
§ 5904. Penalty for illegal placement—Article IV [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.]
§ 5904. Jurisdiction [Contingently enacted]
(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.)