NCJ Number
80821
Date Published
1982
Length
223 pages
Annotation
The report contains the results of research into the law and literature and interstate compacts pertinent o out-of-State placements of children nationwide, as well as the results of field investigations of seven States' placement policies and procedures, some of them landmark. As part of the first systematic national study of out-of-State placements, it should aid child care practitioners, advocates, policymakers, and academicians in understanding and testing the out-of-State placement phenomena.
Abstract
The literature review to provide a historical perspective and trace the changes in public concern about out-of-State placement revealed extensive and controversial coverage. Pointed arguments for and against the practice are identified and discussed. The law review investigates the constitutionality of interstate placements and the legal authority in State law for placements, describing fundamental legal aspects relevant to different public agencies' authority to place children out-of-State. The relationship of licensing law and other regulatory statutes to out-of-State placement is also examined showing very mixed legal settings varying by level and branch of government and by agency type. The examination of interstate compacts describes the substantive and procedural elements of three -- the Interstate Compact on Juveniles, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, and the Interstate Compact on Mental Health -- with comment on the constitutional basis for these agreements, gaps in protection for certain types of placement, efforts to ensure complete protection, and the extent to which they have been implemented successfully. The case study summaries present the results of interviewing over 230 officials in 33 towns and cities throughout Alaska, California, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia about policies and practices, the quality of and impediments to their impedimentation, and recommendations for change. Finally, the report summarizes the research, capsulizes the contents of a third volume of readings on major issues in juvenile justice, and draws implications for policy development. Policy essays address a number of issues, including children's rights, alternative approaches to regulation, and the context of out-of-State placements. Case study findings call for some level of regulation of placements; its development should include investigation and approval of out-of-State settings, systematic case review, through compact implementation, and incentives and sanctions to assure policy implementation. Tables and chapter endnotes are provided. A separate volume of appendixes contains texts of the three compacts, statutory citations, and the full case-study reports. See NCJ 80822 for this volume.