Multiethnic Placement Act: Minorities in Foster Care and Adoption. A Briefing Before The United States Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC

摘要

The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA), was intended to encourage timely decision-making in the adoption and foster care systems, including addressing the problem of discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity. The act was introduced by Senators Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) and Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) to promote the best interests of children in out-of-home care by ensuring that they have permanent, safe, stable and loving homes suited to their individual needs. Of particular concern to Congress was the chronically low permanent placement rate of African American and other minority children due to the practice of racial and ethnic matching policies, and the limited success agencies were having in finding African American and other minority adoptive families. MEPA prohibits the delay or denial of foster care or adoption based solely on race, color, or national origin, and requires state agencies to make diligent efforts to expand the pool of foster and adoptive parents who represent the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care. These mandates apply to any agency that receives federal funds and is involved in some facet of foster care or adoptive placement. Congress believed that these two approaches would increase the pool of minority adoptive families and remove barriers to childrens placement with available qualified adopters.