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information. Reporting is offered on a voluntary, quarterly basis and numbers of children involved with
the ICPC process are hard to come by if not all together impossible to find because of it. In a report
examining the state structure and process of the ICPC, the Department of Health and Human Services
found that out of the 52 states involved with the compact, only 27 were able to report numbers for the
placement of children through the ICPC – and most could not report exact numbers 24 . Furthermore, states
use different techniques and standards to measure the number of children helped through the compact
(some count referrals in their final numbers while others use approvals only) and so the numbers that are
available remain relatively suspect while national numbers for the ICPC are unavailable.
Tracking technology is a major component that differs from state to state, which makes the number of
children helped as well the number of children currently in the system difficult to obtain and manage.
Twelve of the 52 states in the above referenced report used computers to track their ICPC cases, another
12 relied solely on manual tracking, the others reported employing a variety of approaches – again, all
with varying degrees of efficacy. None of these systems have proven to be overwhelmingly successful in
keeping track of the children placed through the compact, “many states believe that children have
probably been placed in their state without their knowledge.” 25
Problems with accountability and reporting are not singular to children placed through the ICPC; the
federal government has found the same challenge when asking states to report numbers of children
involved in and adopted from the foster care systems; the data is simply not there. The Adoption and
Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) was initiated in 1994, and, since that time, it has
been found that “not all states have been reporting data and some that are, are submitting poor quality.” 26
When looking at the ICPC reporting system from this perspective, it is not surprising that the numbers are
difficult to come by and in some cases, impossible to find all together. Both of these challenges make the
issue of accountability within the ICPC process much harder to resolve. In plain language, the current
system does not have the capability nor does it have the oversight power needed to consistently place
children, and it is not held accountable when it does not.
24 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General. “The Interstate Compact on the
Placement of Children: State Structure and Process.” November 1998 – all data reported was for FY 1997.
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-02-95-00041.pdf.Google search engine. Accessed February 28, 2003.
25 Ibid. 2
26 Ibid. 3
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