HIV/AIDS Adoption

Adopting the HIV Positive Child, Part III: Telling Your Family and Friends

(Also read Adoption and HIV, Part 1: Know the Facts and Adopting the HIV Positive Child, Part II.

You can study and learn lots about the HIV/AIDS, how a child may become HIV positive, how the child will fare, what medications are available, and even how contagious the child is to other family members. But all the facts still do not answer the questions that every prospective adoptive parent must ask: “What is it like to raise an HIV Child?”; “What does the future hold?”; “What will others think?“

Before you adopt a child—any child—it is only natural to consider what the response of friends and family will be. After all, this is one of the steps in the adoption process—telling others.

As with all adoptions, your family members may expect that you will adopt a child who will be like a birth child. But instead of announcing that you are adopting a healthy, newborn infant, you may then be explaining to them that you are adopting a child of another race, an older child, or a child with special needs. Continue reading →

Adopting the HIV Positive Child, Part II

Because HIV infection is so serious, and children and adults alike are more prone to other infections, keeping a child strong and healthy is very important. And because children do not have the same reserves as adults, good nutrition is especially important for them.  In poorer countries and in orphanages, where children oftentimes receive less than optimum nutrition, their bodies are further compromised and more prone to infection.

That is why in other countries, orphanages dedicated to the care of HIV positive children receive extra funding  and attention so that the children can receive the extra medical and nutritional care that they need.

If you are considering adopting an HIV positive child, most likely you are adopting a child who is a true orphan and you will truly be giving a child the gift of life. We at Nightlight will be featuring children from Eastern Europe and Africa who are HIV positive. There are certainly considerations that need be taken before you and your family decide to adopt a child who is HIV positive and you will want to be well educated regarding HIV and AIDS in general and the issues you and a and HIV-positive child will face. Continue reading →

Adoption and HIV, Part 1: Know the Facts

AfricaAIDsRibbonMany families are now choosing to adopt children who are HIV positive. The children can come from any country, but the majority of HIV positive children come from Africa.  About 3 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the HIV virus, and 90% of all children with HIV come from this region.

Because of parents dying from AIDS there are an estimated 25 million more children who are orphaned. [1] In Uganda, there are about 2 million orphans. Of those, 1.2 million have lost one or both parents to AIDS. [2] There are millions more who will become orphans.

In the U.S. and Western Europe, the incidence of HIV infection in children has been drastically reduced due to pregnant women taking what are called antiretroviral drugs, which lower the rate substantially of a mother’s passing on the infection to her unborn child.

Even in poorer countries, such as Uganda, this medication is available. However, many people, especially those in rural areas, do not have access to the medication.  Unlike children in Western countries, those in sub-Saharan Africa are much more likely to die from the infection. For these children who do become HIV infected, 50% will die before they reach their second birthday. In fact, the mortality rate due to HIV/AIDS in children under 5 years old has increased by 20-40%. [3] Continue reading →