Sec. 2. Findings

305 words·~1 min read·/bill/115/s/1257/is/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Congress finds that— when a child in foster care cannot return safely home, the child deserves to be placed in a setting that is best for that child, regardless of whether it is in the child’s State or another State; the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children

(ICPC)was established in 1960 to provide a uniform legal framework for the placement of children across State lines in foster and adoptive homes; frequently, children waiting to be placed with an adoptive family, relative, or foster parent in another State spend more time waiting for this to occur than children who are placed with an adoptive, family, relative, or foster parent in the same State, because of the outdated, administratively burdensome ICPC process; no child should have to wait longer to be placed in a loving home simply because the child must cross a State line; the National Electronic Interstate Compact Enterprise (NEICE) was launched in August 2014 in Indiana, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, has since expanded into Illinois, Virginia, Rhode Island, California, Alaska, Nebraska, and Georgia, and is expected to be expanded into additional States to improve the administrative process by which children are placed with families across State lines; States using this electronic interstate case-processing system have reduced administrative costs and the amount of staff time required to process these cases, and caseworkers can spend more time helping children instead of copying and mailing paperwork between States; since NEICE was launched, placement time has decreased by 30 percent for interstate foster care placements; and on average, States using this electronic interstate case-processing system have been able to reduce from 24 business days to 13 business days the time it takes to identify a family for a child and prepare the paperwork required to start the ICPC process.