Minority perspectives on policy formation, programs, and research in child development are presented in this report, which is divided into four main sections. The first section provides a theoretical review of the concepts of racism in general and institutional racism in particular. It defines institutional racism and discusses the function of institutions. The second section discusses the impact of institutional racism on policy formation in the area of child development. The third section, based on the empirical findings of the authors, describes the impact of institutional racism upon the outcome of child development programming, suggests new approaches for the evaluation of programming consequences, and makes recommendations for increasing federal program benefits for minority groups. The last section examines the fundamental assumptions underlying some of the current research in child development (particularly in relationship to black child development) in these areas: self concept, language behavior, and intelligence. (SET)