Information was obtained through personal interviews and a review of Juvenile Court and Probation Department files. Consideration was given to the department's placement process, placement cases and juvenile hall population levels, efforts to improve placement procedures and to reduce juvenile hall waiting time, placement patterns, problems in out-of-county placements, placement needs (mental health, alcohol abuse, drug dependency, assault, and serious juvenile offender cases), placement success, and management issues related to placement. It is recommended that the Juvenile Court and Probation Department adopt written guidelines specifying that nonsecure shelters represent the appropriate place to keep low-risk youth waiting for private placement and that the juvenile court become more involved in preplacement issues and policies. Fiscal barriers to the expansion of juvenile placement options should be addressed using a multifaceted approach, and a detailed assessment should be conducted to determine the need for specialty beds for adjudicated youth. In addition, efforts to review placement cases and to improve family reunification planning should be expanded.