Multiethnic Placement Act M'E'P'A'

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Multiethnic Placement ActM.E.P.A.
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BACKGROUND

• M.E.P.A. was enacted into law in 1994. Since
  that time, there have been several amendments
  added which are typically all included when we
  talk about M.E.P.A. (often referred to as
  M.E.P.A.-I.E.P.A., Multiethnic Placement
  Act-Interethnic Adoption Placement Act)
• Before MEPA became law, foster care and adoption
  practices throughout the country favored placing
  children in ethnically matched families.
• There was a widely accepted belief that children
  have significant needs generated by their racial
  or ethnic characteristics. There were concerns
  about self esteem issues, about whether children
  would learn how to deal with racism, about
  whether or not children raised in families
  different from themselves could develop a strong
  racial identity.
• At the same time adoptions and some foster
  placements were restricted to same race/ethnic
  parents, recruitment efforts did not keep up with
  the growing demand for appropriate minority homes
  for children.
• As a result of these factors, thousands of
  minority children remained in foster care
  literally for years longer than comparable white
  children.
• As the 90s began, there was a growing concern
  about the need children have for permanence.
  There was growing research that supported the
  idea that permanence is ultimately more important
  for a childs healthy development than racially
  similar families.
• M.E.P.A. was passed and then amendments were
  added that strengthened
  the requirement for increasing
  the number of minority foster and
  adoptive homes.

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Purpose of M.E.P.A. I.E.P.A.

• Decrease the length of time that children wait to
  be adopted
• Facilitate the recruitment and retention of
  foster and adoptive parents who can meet the
  distinctive needs of children awaiting placement.
• Eliminate discrimination on the basis of the
  race, color, or national origin of the child or
  the prospective parent.

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Basic Mandates of M.E.P.A.-I.E.P.A.

• Prohibits states and other entities that are
  involved in foster care or adoption placements,
  and that receive federal financial assistance,
  from delaying or denying a childs foster care or
  adoptive placement on the basis of the childs or
  the prospective parents race, color, or national
  origin.
• Prohibits these states from denying to any
  individual the opportunity to become a foster or
  adoptive parent on the basis of the prospective
  parents or the childs race, color, or national
  origin.
• Requires that, to remain eligible for federal
  assistance for their child welfare programs,
  states must diligently recruit foster and
  adoptive parents who reflect the racial and
  ethnic diversity of the children in the state who
  need foster and adoptive homes.
• (Childrens Bureau)

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Practices Prohibited

• Use race, color or national origin to
  differentiate between otherwise acceptable foster
  or adoptive placements.
• Honor the request of a birth parent to place a
  child with a family of a specific race, color or
  national origin.
• Require any additional or special assessment of a
  prospective family who expresses an interest in
  becoming a foster or adoptive caregiver for a
  child of a particular race, color or national
  origin.
• Rely on general assumptions about the needs of
  children of a particular race, color or national
  origin.
• Require extra training for parents who wish to
  adopt or foster transracially.
• Steer prospective parents away from parenting a
  child of another race, color or national origin.

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Practices That Are Permitted

• Ask prospective foster and adoptive parents what
  race, color or national origin of child they will
  accept.
• Provide information and resources about adopting
  a child of another race, color or national origin
  to prospective adoptive and foster parents who
  request such information and make it known to all
  families that such information and resources are
  available.
• Consider the request of a birth parent to place
  the child with an identified relative or
  non-relative.
• Discuss the special cultural and physical needs
  of children of different races, colors or
  national origins as part of the training which is
  required of all parents who seek to become
  adoptive or foster parents.
• (http//www.hamilton-co.org/dhs/departments/child
  rens_services/MEPA20fact20sheet.pdf)

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Example

• An African American adolescent states that he
  does not wish to be adopted by a white family.
  As his caseworker, you do not need to ignore his
  wishes. While you might wish to work with this
  young man, his ideas of what would make him most
  comfortable should not be dismissed. You will
  want to consider the child's willingness to
  accept the family as an element that is critical
  to the success of the adoptive placement. At the
  same time, you should not dismiss as possible
  placements families of a particular race who are
  able to meet the needs of the child.
• (Adapted from Results Oriented Management,
  University of Kansas School of Social Welfare,
  2003)

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• M.E.P.A.-I.E.P.A. does not supersede the Indian
  Child Welfare Act (I.C.W.A.). Apply I.C.W.A.
  when working with Native American children.

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Sanctions

• MEPA-IEP can be enforced through administrative
  action by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
  Services or through litigation brought by
  individuals or the Justice Department.
  Non-compliance may result in loss of federal,
  injunctive relief, and, in certain cases an award
  of money damages.