From the article:
In late December, Utah licensing officials found that the agency violated interstate adoption rules by failing to notify Utah's Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) administrator before placing Baby Tamia.
The notification came on Dec. 20, roughly two weeks after McDonald relinquished her baby.
According to state regulators, A Cherished Child also failed to provide McDonald a copy of the relinquishment papers. But licensors found nothing to substantiate complaints that McDonald was coerced or deceived by the agency.
Since 1997, when the agency was founded, regulators have fielded four complaints, three of which resulted in findings that there had been violations.
But Utah Licensing Director Ken Stettler says, "The nature of the violations wasn't serious enough to warrant more than corrective action and they've always been very responsive."
[Good ol Kenny Boy and his broken record response. What do they do to earn their living at DHS?]
Derek Williams, a lawyer for A Cherished Child, says agencies routinely violate ICPC.
"It's the media attention and this particular
case that exposed a common practice by all agencies. This agency was punished for doing something all of them do," said Williams, stressing ICPC administrators often allow adoption agencies to file retroactively.
''What do you do if you have a birth mother who wants to place her baby now? Does the agency say, 'Unfortunately, we need to send you back home to wait two to three weeks while we do paperwork?' ''
[Excuse me idiot... one of the purposes of ICPC is to prevent the RUSHED and/or INAPPROPRIATE placement of children across state lines. Two or three weeks is not long to wait. And what's up with the 'paperwork' comment. If the ICPC is carried out as intended, it's much more than simply filing paperwork, but I am certain that those involved view it that way - an unpleasant technicality.]
In Wednesday's ruling, Judge Murphy underscored the importance of enforcing the ICPC. But Williams doesn't believe the ruling will put other retroactively approved adoptions at risk of being overturned. Illinois judges have approved such adoptions, said Williams.
