This paper examines problems of services delivery to elderly members of ethnic groups. This is done to suggest that failures of public policy often are aggravated by political, cultural and historical experiences which some ethnic groups bring to the American scene. It reviews the literature relevant to services delivery to elderly Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Samoans, American Indians, Mexican Americans and black Americans. These groups were chosen for study because it was believed that each of them would manifest particular economic and demographic characteristics which affect the level of social services needs, or that they have cultural and historical characteristics which affect their readiness to seek access to social services, or that they may suffer in some special manner from inadequacies in the design of the services delivery system. Several factors affect the use of services by elderly persons from minority groups: differences in socioeconomic status, cultural factors, differences in eligibility for services, communication and language barriers, and differences in physical and financial access. Each of these factors is briefly discussed and each discussion is concluded with some recommendations for improvement in the social services delivery system. (Author/JM)