reprinted with permission from “New Beginnings Foster and Adoptive Parent Newsletter” published by Family Counseling and Children’s Services of Lenawee County

The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) was enacted in 1994. This was one of several acts intended to promote the best interests of children by ensuring that they have permanent, safe, stable and loving homes to meet their individual needs. Members of Congress were concerned that children were waiting too long for permanency because agencies were following policies of matching children with families according to race and ethnicity. At the same time, Congress believed that more needed to be done to recruit minorities to foster and adopt and to reduce possible barriers to their becoming licensed or approved as foster or adoptive parents.

In 1996 the Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP) was added to strengthen MEPA and clarify some of the potentially misleading language.

It basically states that discrimination against children in need of suitable homes or prospective foster or adoptive parents is illegal. In addition, IEP strengthened compliance and enforcement procedures, including the withholding of federal funds and the right of individuals to bring an action into federal court against the state or other entity alleged to have violated the law. The monetary penalties for noncompliance are considerable.

When making an assessment of a particular child’s needs, MEPA/IEP does not prohibit consideration of race, color and national origin in finding a placement appropriate to meet the child’s needs or wishes. A consideration must be narrowly tailored to advance the child’s interests, and must be made as an individualized determination for each child. Race, color or national origin, however, cannot be used to deny that child a foster or adoptive placement. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has indicated that consideration could be made in cases of older children, but that younger children or infants were unlikely to have developed needs concerning race, ethnicity or national origin.

For those of you interested in more information on MEPA/IEP you can find it online at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at:

www.hhs.gov/ocr/mepaipp.htm