Gary Anderson - Children and HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS and Children, Youths, and Families: Lessons Learned is a special issue of Child Welfare intended as a resource to personnel within the child welfare field serving children and families whose lives are touched by HIV and AIDS. It is our hope that this special issue will add insight to and fuel discussion of the fight against AIDS, and help us all to better serve the children and adolescents that the current epidemic affects so tragically.

Early in the AIDS epidemic, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) recognized that the disease would have a devastating impact on children, adolescents, and families. In response, CWLA established a National Task Force on Children and HIV Infection. Since June 1986, the Task Force has provided leadership and compassionate guidance to CWLA, its staff, and its member agencies from across the country on policy issues, program designs, and best practices concerning children and families living with HIV/AIDS. The task force was recently renamed the National Task Force on HIV Infection in Children, Adolescents, and Families to better reflect two major concerns: (1) that the heterosexual spread of AIDS among adolescents calls for continued emphasis on this often forgotten population, and (2) that the whole family of a child or parent infected with the virus must be perceived as the focus of community support and help.

Since its inception, the Task Forces leadership and guidance have expanded to encompass all community-based services for families, including child day care, out-of-home care, and group residential care programs that serve children with HIV. In 1987, CWLA published Initial Guidelines on HIV Infection to help child and family-serving agencies develop responsive and updated policies and procedures. Between 1989 and 1991, additional publications continued to further assist these programs.

In 1989, responding to the need for training and support for permanency planning recruitment of foster and adoptive families for children living with AIDS, CWLA produced an awardwinning video, With Loving Arms, that has been used successfully throughout the country. CWLAs awareness that HIV prevention and education are the key to serving children, adolescents, and their families led it to offer information and services that have been used by thousands of social service agencies nationwide. These include the creation of the Hugs InVited training series (a joint project of CWLA and the Childrens Hospital/Childrens National Medical Center), the publication of several books, and the provision of direct training.

From 1991 to 1995, the number of women diagnosed with AIDS increased 63%, vastly increasing the number of children who will be affected by their mothers illness. In 1992, under the leadership of the Task Forces Subcommittee to Place Children Who Lose Their Parents to AIDS, CWLA designed a comprehensive initiative to support communities and service organizations that serve children affected by HIV/AIDS. The initiative has included policy guidelines, cross-systems training seminars, and resources for parents, children, professionals, volunteers, and public and private agencies.

This special issue of Child Welfare is another step forward in our ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS, and in our efforts to help those affected by it. The Task Force expresses its thanks to Gary Anderson, Professor, School of Social Work, Hunter College, New York, New York; Constance Ryan, Consultant, New Hope, Pennsylvania; Susan Taylor-Brown, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; and Myra White-Gray, FaCT Project Director, Maryland Department of Human Resources, Baltimore, Maryland, who helped make this issue possible by serving as its editors, and to all those who have contributed to this issue.

Despite recent medical advances, there is still no cure for HIV or AIDS. Combinations of new drugs and new knowledge are enabling persons with HIV to live much longer, however, they are also raising new issues for service providers trying to assist these persons and their families. We welcome your comments and reactions to this special issue and challenge all who work with children, youths, and their families to respond with creativity and innovation to the epidemic in your communities and nationwide.