The effects of permanent dipole moments on stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) are considered. Analytic expressions for the Hamiltonian including the effects of permanent dipole moments are developed for the STIRAP process. The potential detrimental effect of permanent dipoles on population transfer using standard STIRAP techniques is demonstrated using model three-level systems. However, the presence of permanent dipole moments can allow the utilization of alternative multi-photon mechanisms for STIRAP. Here two-photon plus two-photon STIRAP is highlighted as a potential new mechanism.