Atkins K, Norman E, Farley D; HIV Infection in Women Conference.

Program Abstr HIV Infect Women Conf HIV Infect Women Conf 1995 Wash DC. 1995 Feb 22-24; S63.

Community Family Planning Council, New York, NY.

Provision of appropriate social support services for HIV infected women and HIV affected families continues to be inadequate. Women of color, in particular, must take responsibility for the household and children, placing their own needs for care last. In 1991, the Community Family Planning Council in New York City implemented a case management program targeted to HIV infected women of color, helping them to overcome barriers to their own care while addressing the needs of their families. The program offers the setting of daily living goals; assistance in obtaining entitlements, housing, medical and social service support; arrangements for child care; support groups; and assistance with early permanency planning and guardianship issues. In three years, the program has expanded to eight sites throughout New York City and has served almost 200 HIV infected women. Currently, the program serves 120 women and provides related services to 80 children, all HIV negative. Few of these women are able to disclose their HIV status to the children and fewer still can make plans for custody of their children upon their death. Facing these concerns increases the stress on their own body. The topic of this paper is why women have a hard time accessing these services. Some reasons include (1) different cultural attitudes about child custody; (2) bringing family secrets of abuse, neglect, etc., to light; (3) confronting mortality; and (4) distancing from the children. These will be supported by case vignettes to show the complexity of the issue and highlight the things that must be addressed before efforts to get women to use these services can be successful.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Case Management
• Child
• Child Custody
• Child Welfare
• Child of Impaired Parents
• Family
• Family Planning Services
• Female
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Planning
• Health Services Accessibility
• Health Services Needs and Demand
• Humans
• Maternal-Child Health Centers
• New York City
• Social Work
• Substance-Related Disorders

Other ID:

• 95921957

UI: 102214901

From Meeting Abstracts