The Howard M. Metzenbaum Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 is one of several recent congressional initiatives to address concerns that children remain in foster care too long. As originally enacted, the law provided that the placement of children in foster or adoptive homes could not be denied or delayed solely because of the race, color, or national origin of the child or of the prospective foster or adoptive parents. However, the act expressly permitted consideration of the racial, ethnic, or cultural background of the child and the capacity of prospective parents to meet the child’s needs in these areas when making placement decisions—if such a consideration was one of a number of factors used to determine the best interests of a child. Furthermore, it required states to undertake efforts to recruit foster and adoptive families that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of children in need of care. The 1996 amendment clarified that race, color, or national origin may be considered only in rare circumstances when making placement decisions.As amended, the act states that placement cannot be denied or delayed because of race, color, or national origin. Furthermore, the amendment removed language that allowed routine consideration of these factors in assessing both the best interests of the child and the capacity of prospective foster or adoptive parents to meet the needs of a child. An agency making a placement decision that uses race, color, or national origin would need to prove to the courts that the decision was justified by a compelling government interest and necessary to the accomplishment of a legitimate state purpose—in this case, the best interests of a child. Thus, under the law, the “best interests of a child” is defined on a narrow, case-specific basis, whereas child welfare agencies have historically assumed that same-race placements are in the best interests of all children. The amendment also added an enforcement provision that penalizes states that violate the amended act. The penalties range from 2 percent to 5 percent of the federal title IV-E funds the state would have received, depending upon whether the violation is the first or a subsequent one in the fiscal year. HHS estimates that the maximum penalty for a state with a large foster care population could be as high as $10 million in one year. Any agency, private or public, is subject to the provisions of the amended act if it receives federal funds. Agencies that receive funds indirectly, as a subrecipient of another agency, must also comply with the act. Such funds include but are not limited to foster care funds for programs under title IV-E of the Social Security Act, block grant funds, and discretionary grants. Before placements can be made, a child welfare agency must have an available pool of prospective foster and adoptive parents. In order to become foster or adoptive parents in California, applicants undergo a process that requires them to open all aspects of their home and personal life to scrutiny. Typically, these prospective parents attend an orientation and are fingerprinted and interviewed. They then attend mandatory training that can last up to 10 weeks. If they meet the minimum qualifications—such as a background free from certain types of criminal convictions—their personal life is then reviewed in detail by caseworkers.This review is called a homestudy. According to one county, 20 percent or fewer applicants reach this milestone. A homestudy addresses the financial situation, current and previous relationships, and life experiences of the applicant. It also addresses the abilities and desires of the applicant to parent certain types of children—including children of particular races—and other issues. Only when the homestudy process is completed, a written report of its findings approved by a child welfare agency, and the home found to meet safety standards is an applicant approved as a foster or adoptive parent. Caseworkers may then consider whether a prospective foster or adoptive parent would be an appropriate caregiver for a particular foster child. Social work practice uses the best interests of the child as its guiding principle in placement decisions. Caseworkers exercise professional judgment to balance the many factors that historically have been included when defining that principle. When considering what is in the best interests of the child, both physical and emotional well-being factors such as the safety, security, stability, nurturance, and permanence for the child are taken into consideration. In social work practice, the need for security and stability has included maintaining cultural heritage. The caseworker’s placement decision may also be affected by the administrative procedures used in an agency, the size of the pool of potential foster and adoptive parents, and, in some cases, individual caseworkers’ beliefs. An agency may have a centralized system for providing caseworkers with information on available homes, or it may be left to the caseworker to seek out an available foster home. Depending on the size of the pool of potential foster or adoptive parents and the needs of the child, a caseworker may have few or many homes to consider when making a placement decision. In any case, good casework practice includes making individualized, needs-based placements reflecting the best interests of a child. While the thrust of the act, as amended, is toward race-blind foster care and adoption placement decisions, other federal policies that guide placement decisions inherently tend toward placing children with parents of the same race. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 grants Native American tribes exclusive jurisdiction over specific Native American child welfare issues. The Multiethnic Placement Act does not affect the application of tribal jurisdiction. Section 505 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 amended section 471(a) of the Social Security Act to require states to consider giving priority to relatives of foster children when making placement decisions. Some states, such as California, require that caseworkers first try to place a child with relatives—known as kinship caregivers—before considering other types of placement. Consequently, the Multiethnic Placement Act affects about one-half of the California foster care caseload—those foster and adoptive children who are not under tribal jurisdiction or cared for by relatives. HHS, the state of California, and foster care and adoption agencies in the two counties we reviewed took actions to inform agencies and caseworkers about the passage of the 1994 act. HHS also provided technical assistance to states, including working with states to ensure that state laws were consistent with the act. California changed state law and regulations, and the two counties we reviewed also changed policies to conform to the new law. In addition, the two counties provided training on the act to caseworkers responsible for making placement decisions. HHS recognized the significance of the change in casework practice that the 1994 law would require of child welfare agencies by restricting the use of race in placement decisions. In response, HHS launched a major effort to provide policy guidance and technical assistance. The underpinning for HHS’ actions was coordination among its units that do not customarily issue joint policies—such as the Children’s Bureau and the Office for Civil Rights—to ensure that the agency provided consistent guidance. These two units have the responsibility within HHS for implementing the act. The Children’s Bureau administers programs of federal financial assistance to child welfare agencies and has responsibility for enforcing compliance with the laws authorizing that assistance. The Office for Civil Rights has the responsibility for enforcing compliance with civil rights laws. HHS officials told us that this internal coordination was also essential because the agency itself needed to undergo cultural changes. For example, in order to provide joint guidance, officials in the Office for Civil Rights needed to understand a social work perspective on the role of race in making placement decisions, and officials in the Children’s Bureau needed to understand civil rights principles in the context of their programs. Officials told us that they also notified agency grantees of the act and reviewed selected documents to see that they were consistent with it. Within 6 weeks of enactment of the new law, HHS issued a memorandum to states that summarized the act and provided its text. About 5 months later—and 6 months before the act went into effect—HHS issued its policy guidance. (See app. III for the text of the guidance.) The guidance, jointly issued by the Children’s Bureau and the Office for Civil Rights, was based on legal principles in title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The guidance introduced key legal concepts and identified certain illegal practices, such as the use of a time period during which a search would occur only for foster or adoptive parents of the same race as the foster child. Some states believed that HHS’ guidance regarding the use of race in placement decisions was more restrictive than provided for in the act. However, HHS maintained that its guidance accurately reflected the statutory and constitutional civil rights principles involved. To assist states in understanding what they must do to comply with the act, officials from the Children’s Bureau and the Office for Civil Rights jointly provided training to state officials and discussed the new law with state child welfare directors in at least 10 states. In addition, HHS contracted with a National Resource Center for a monograph on the new law; the monograph was released at the time the act went into effect and provided additional guidance for states’ use when implementing the act. Finally, HHS made other information and resources available to states from its contracted Resource Centers, including assistance to individual states. To ensure that state laws were consistent with the act, the Office for Civil Rights reviewed each state’s statutes, regulations, and policies. It then worked with states whose laws did not conform to initiate corrective action. The review found that the statutes, rules, or policies of 28 states and the District of Columbia did not conform. All of them completed changes to comply with the 1994 law. Furthermore, as part of its ongoing efforts to determine whether agency policies and caseworker actions comply with civil rights law, including the act, the Office for Civil Rights continued to investigate complaints of discrimination that were filed with the agency.