I don’t want to get too personal, so I’ll put it briefly: our lives have changed, profoundly, because of AIDS. One person contracting one virus can have a devastating domino effect on everyone around them- their spouses, their children, anyone who depends on them to provide food or housing or even just love. If you just look at the statistics, it can be overwhelming. So don’t. Just think of yourself: imagine what would happen to your spouse, your children, your family, if YOU died of AIDS. What if you AND your spouse died of AIDS? Imagine the impact on your children. Now imagine how much worse the impact would be if you and your children were living in a resource-poor country…like Ethiopia.
When we were in the adoption process, we didn’t really explore the idea of adopting a child with HIV. It was too overwhelming and scary and permanent. Honestly, though? We were just ignorant. We didn’t really understand the difference between HIV and AIDS, and our concepts of the disease were outdated. The difference in outcomes for HIV patients now compared to even ten years ago is astounding. This study just blew my mind. Our kids’ doctor is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist who has several children in his care who were born HIV-positive but are now graduating from high school and living normal lives as college students. I kick myself now for not opening our minds and our family to children with HIV while we were in the adoption process; it just seems so…foolish. If we were to adopt again (and that’s a big “if”, I realize) I would not repeat this mistake.
Erin Henderson is the HIV-adoption coordinator for our agency, Adoption Advocates, and she wrote a fantastic post for World AIDS Orphans Day. Please go check it out. She offers a gaggle of resources, whether you are exploring adoption or simply looking for a way to lend your support to children who have been affected by HIV or AIDS.
