CHAPTER 324
HB 1280 - FINAL VERSION
15Mar2022... 0912h
05/05/2022 1859s
2022 SESSION
22-2795
07/04
HOUSE BILL 1280
AN ACT prohibiting a parent's refusal to vaccinate a child from being used as evidence in any
proceeding to terminating parental rights and enacting the 2009 interstate compact for
the placement of children.
SPONSORS: Rep. Roy, Rock. 32
COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law
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AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill:
I. Prohibits a parent’s decision not to have their child vaccinated from being used as grounds to
terminate parental rights.
II. Provides for the adoption of the 2009 edition of the interstate compact for the placement of
children.
III. Exempts certain child placements from the interstate compact on the placement of children in
RSA 170-A.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
 CHAPTER 324
HB 1280 - FINAL VERSION
15Mar2022... 0912h
05/05/2022 1859s 22-2795
07/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two
AN ACT prohibiting a parent's refusal to vaccinate a child from being used as evidence in any
proceeding to terminating parental rights and enacting the 2009 interstate compact for
the placement of children.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 324:1 Termination of Parental Rights; Grounds for Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship;
2 Decision to Vaccinate Prohibited. Amend RSA 170-C:5, II to read as follows:
3 II. That, although the parents are financially able, they have substantially and continuously
4 neglected to provide the child with necessary subsistence, education or other care necessary for his
5 mental, emotional, or physical health or have substantially and continuously neglected to pay for such
6 subsistence, education or other care when legal custody is lodged with others; provided, however, it shall
7 not be grounds for the termination of the parent-child relationship for the sole reason the parent of said
8 child relies upon spiritual means through prayer in accordance with a recognized religious method of
9 healing in lieu of medical treatment for the healing of said child. A parent's decision not to have their child
10 vaccinated shall not be used as evidence in any proceeding to terminate parental rights.
11 324:2 Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children. RSA 170-A is repealed and reenacted to
12 read as follows:
13 CHAPTER 170-A
14 INTERSTATE COMPACT
15 FOR THE PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN
16 170-A:1 Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children. On the effective date of this chapter,
17 based upon the enactment of the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children into law by the thirty-
18 fifth compacting state, the governor is authorized and directed to execute a compact on behalf of this state
19 with any other state or states legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:
20 ARTICLE I
21 Purpose
22 The purpose of this Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children is to:
23 I. Provide a process through which children subject to this compact are placed in safe and
24 suitable homes in a timely manner.
25 II. Facilitate ongoing supervision of a placement, the delivery of services, and communication
26 between the states.
27 III. Provide operating procedures that will ensure that children are placed in safe and suitable
28 homes in a timely manner.
29 IV. Provide for the promulgation and enforcement of administrative rules implementing the
30 provisions of this compact and regulating the covered activities of the member states.
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1 V. Provide for uniform data collection and information sharing between member states under this
2 compact.
3 VI. Promote coordination between this compact, the Interstate Compact for Juveniles, the
4 Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance, and other compacts affecting the placement of
5 and which provide services to children otherwise subject to this compact.
6 VII. Provide for a state’s continuing legal jurisdiction and responsibility for placement and care of
7 a child that it would have had if the placement were intrastate.
8 VIII. Provide for the promulgation of guidelines, in collaboration with Indian tribes, for interstate
9 cases involving Indian children as is or may be permitted by federal law.
10 ARTICLE II
11 Definitions
12 As used in this compact:
13 I. “Approved placement” means the public child-placing agency in the receiving state has
14 determined that the placement is both safe and suitable for the child.
15 II. “Assessment” means an evaluation of a prospective placement by a public child-placing
16 agency in the receiving state to determine if the placement meets the individualized needs of the child,
17 including, but not limited to, the child’s safety and stability, health and well-being, and mental, emotional,
18 and physical development. An assessment is only applicable to a placement by a public child-placing
19 agency.
20 III. “Child” means an individual who has not attained the age of 18.
21 IV. “Certification” means to attest, declare, or swear to before a judge or notary public.
22 V. “Default” means the failure of a member state to perform the obligations or responsibilities
23 imposed upon it by this compact or the bylaws or rules of the Interstate Commission.
24 VI. “Home study” means an evaluation of a home environment conducted in accordance with the
25 applicable requirements of the state in which the home is located and that documents the preparation and
26 the suitability of the placement resource for placement of a child in accordance with the laws and
27 requirements of the state in which the home is located.
28 VII. “Indian tribe” means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of
29 Indians recognized as eligible for services provided to Indians by the Secretary of the Interior because of
30 their status as Indians, including any Alaskan native village as defined in section 3(c) of the Alaska Native
31 Claims Settlement Act, 43 U.S.C. section 1602(c).
32 VIII. “Interstate Commission for the Placement of Children” means the commission that is created
33 under Article VIII of this compact and which is generally referred to as the “Interstate Commission.”
34 IX. “Jurisdiction” means the power and authority of a court to hear and decide matters.
35 X. “Legal risk placement” or “legal risk adoption” means a placement made preliminary to an
36 adoption where the prospective adoptive parents acknowledge in writing that a child can be ordered
37 returned to the sending state or the birth mother’s state of residence, if different from the sending state,
38 and a final decree of adoption shall not be entered in any jurisdiction until all required consents are
39 obtained or are dispensed with in accordance with applicable law.
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1 XI. “Member state” means a state that has enacted this compact.
2 XII. “Noncustodial parent” means a person who, at the time of the commencement of court
3 proceedings in the sending state, does not have sole legal custody of the child or has joint legal custody of
4 a child, and who is not the subject of allegations or findings of child abuse or neglect.
5 XIII. “Nonmember state” means a state which has not enacted this compact.
6 XIV. “Notice of residential placement” means information regarding a placement into a residential
7 facility provided to the receiving state, including, but not limited to, the name, date, and place of birth of
8 the child, the identity and address of the parent or legal guardian, evidence of authority to make the
9 placement, and the name and address of the facility in which the child will be placed. Notice of residential
10 placement shall also include information regarding a discharge and any unauthorized absence from the
11 facility.
12 XV. “Placement” means the act by a public or private child-placing agency intended to arrange
13 for the care or custody of a child in another state.
14 XVI. “Private child-placing agency” means any private corporation, agency, foundation,
15 institution, or charitable organization, or any private person or attorney, that facilitates, causes, or is
16 involved in the placement of a child from one state to another and that is not an instrumentality of the state
17 or acting under color of state law.
18 XVII. “Provisional placement” means a determination made by the public child-placing agency in
19 the receiving state that the proposed placement is safe and suitable, and, to the extent allowable, the
20 receiving state has temporarily waived its standards or requirements otherwise applicable to prospective
21 foster or adoptive parents so as to not delay the placement. Completion of the receiving state
22 requirements regarding training for prospective foster or adoptive parents shall not delay an otherwise
23 safe and suitable placement.
24 XVIII. “Public child-placing agency” means any government child welfare agency or child
25 protection agency or a private entity under contract with such an agency, regardless of whether the entity
26 acts on behalf of a state, a county, a municipality, or another governmental unit, and which facilitates,
27 causes, or is involved in the placement of a child from one state to another.
28 XIX. “Receiving state” means the state to which a child is sent, brought, or caused to be sent or
29 brought.
30 XX. “Relative” means someone who is related to the child as a parent, stepparent, sibling by half
31 or whole blood or by adoption, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or first cousin or a nonrelative with such
32 significant ties to the child that the nonrelative may be regarded as a relative as determined by the court in
33 the sending state.
34 XXI. “Residential facility” means a facility providing a level of care that is sufficient to substitute
35 for parental responsibility or foster care and that is beyond what is needed for assessment or treatment of
36 an acute condition. For purposes of the compact, the term “residential facility” does not include
37 institutions primarily educational in character, hospitals, or other medical facilities.
38 XXII. “Rule” means a written directive, mandate, standard, or principle issued by the Interstate
39 Commission promulgated pursuant to Article XI of this compact that is of general applicability and that
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1 implements, interprets, or prescribes a policy or provision of the compact. A rule has the force and effect
2 of an administrative rule in a member state and includes the amendment, repeal, or suspension of an
3 existing rule.
4 XXIII. “Sending state” means the state from which the placement of a child is initiated.
5 XXIV. “Service member’s permanent duty station” means the military installation where an active
6 duty United States Armed Services member is currently assigned and is physically located under
7 competent orders that do not specify the duty as temporary.
8 XXV. “Service member’s state of legal residence” means the state in which the active duty United
9 States Armed Services member is considered a resident for tax and voting purposes.
10 XXVI. “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
11 Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and
12 any other territory of the United States.
13 XXVII. “State court” means a judicial body of a state that is vested by law with responsibility for
14 adjudicating cases involving abuse, neglect, deprivation, delinquency, or status offenses of individuals
15 who have not attained the age of 18.
16 XXVIII. “Supervision” means monitoring provided by the receiving state once a child has been
17 placed in a receiving state pursuant to this compact.
18 ARTICLE III
19 Applicability
20 I. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph II, this compact shall apply to:
21 (a) The interstate placement of a child subject to ongoing court jurisdiction in the sending
22 state, due to allegations or findings that the child has been abused, neglected, or deprived as defined by
23 the laws of the sending state; provided, however, that the placement of such a child into a residential
24 facility shall only require notice of residential placement to the receiving state prior to placement.
25 (b) The interstate placement of a child adjudicated delinquent or unmanageable based on the
26 laws of the sending state and subject to ongoing court jurisdiction of the sending state if:
27 (1) The child is being placed in a residential facility in another member state and is not
28 covered under another compact; or
29 (2) The child is being placed in another member state and the determination of safety
30 and suitability of the placement and services required is not provided through another compact.
31 (c) The interstate placement of any child by a public child-placing agency or private child-
32 placing agency as a preliminary step to a possible adoption.
33 II. The provisions of this compact shall not apply to:
34 (a) The interstate placement of a child in a custody proceeding in which a public child-placing
35 agency is not a party; provided, however, that the placement is not intended to effectuate an adoption.
36 (b) The interstate placement of a child with a nonrelative in a receiving state by a parent with
37 the legal authority to make such a placement; provided, however, that the placement is not intended to
38 effectuate an adoption.
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1 (c) The interstate placement of a child by one relative with the lawful authority to make such a
2 placement directly with a relative in a receiving state.
3 (d) The placement of a child, not subject to paragraph I, into a residential facility by his or her
4 parent.
5 (e) The placement of a child with a noncustodial parent, provided that:
6 (1) The noncustodial parent proves to the satisfaction of a court in the sending state a
7 substantial relationship with the child;
8 (2) The court in the sending state makes a written finding that placement with the
9 noncustodial parent is in the best interests of the child; and
10 (3) The court in the sending state dismisses its jurisdiction in interstate placements in
11 which the public child-placing agency is a party to the proceeding.
12 (f) A child entering the United States from a foreign country for the purpose of adoption or
13 leaving the United States to go to a foreign country for the purpose of adoption in that country.
14 (g) Cases in which a child who is a United States citizen living overseas with his or her
15 family, at least one of whom is in the United States Armed Services and stationed overseas, is removed
16 and placed in a state.
17 (h) The sending of a child by a public child-placing agency or a private child-placing agency
18 for a visit as defined by the rules of the Interstate Commission.
19 III. For purposes of determining the applicability of this compact