ICPC is an agreement between the 50 states to ensure that a child moving from one state to another to be adopted is being placed into a suitable home with adoptive parents who are qualified to adopt. Administrators of the compact in both the sending state, where the child was born or currently resides, and the receiving state, where the adoptive parents reside, review the adoption paperwork, including the home study, before granting approval for the child to leave the sending state and travel to the receiving state.
In Arizona, adoptive parents cannot get approval to bring a child home from another state unless they are currently certified by the Superior Court as acceptable adoptive parents or are licensed foster parents. The compact does not apply to a parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult sibling, aunt, uncle, or guardian.