I am writing today to spread the word that adopting children who are HIV+ is now very possible. It used to be that the U.S. did not allow children with HIV to enter the country, and that other countries that allow international adoption, did not allow HIV+ children to be adopted.

However, with the rapid improvements in medications and expectations for a person with HIV, things are changing. Did you know that HIV is not even considered a terminal illness in the United States anymore? It is considered a chronic, yet manageable disease. People with HIV require daily medication and quarterly check-ups (including blood tests), but beyond that, many people with HIV who receive the proper medications, live full and normal lives.

While we tend to hear so much about how rapidly HIV spreads, the reality is that HIV is a fragile virus and transmission is only possible through blood to blood contact, sexual contact or breast milk. Numerous studies and years of experience have shown that family members do not contract HIV/AIDS through ordinary household activities such as sharing the same cup, food or chapstick, hugging and kissing, coughing, sneezing, spitting, or changing diapers.

And while Hollywood’s stories of HIV and AIDS typically portray people with HIV as thin, sickly and constantly suffering, the reality is that most people today with HIV look like anyone else, and their disease is not a prominent or defining factor of their lives.

Children born with HIV are expected to be able to live well into adulthood with the medications available today. When you consider that the medications are constantly improving and becoming more effective, and that the possibility of a cure becomes more realistic every day, the future looks very promising.

In regards to adoption, children with HIV are being placed from Vietnam, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Brazil as well as several other countries. Chances By Choice, an organization that advocates and educates with the goal of finding adoptive families for children with HIV, has available children listed on their website in Vietnam, Ethiopia, Liberia, Haiti and Russia. There are some children born HIV positive in the United States that are available for adoption as well, but with the medications available to HIV+ pregnant women resulting in a remotely small chance of the disease being passed on to their babies, there are relatively small numbers of HIV+ children now being born in the U.S.

The adoption process typically goes the same as any other adoption from the country the child is in, however if it is an international adoption, there is an extra step, the HIV waiver, during the immigration process, which adds time and paperwork to the process.

I fully understand that many people who adopt have “a healthy child” as their priority. And yet I also know that there are many adoptive parents who are open to special needs children. I know agencies that have waiting lists of parents willing and hoping to adopt a child with Downs Syndrome. Countless parents adopt children with heart conditions, cleft lips and palates, Hepatitis B and many other conditions. My sincere hope is that more people will be willing to educate themselves and consider adopting a child with HIV. In our country these children have every chance at leading a full life, while in most third world countries, there is very little hope for their future.

Of course there are no guarantees that an HIV+ child with thrive and there are many things to think about before making the decision to adopt a child with HIV, but there is no guarantee with any child. It is scary to knowingly take on a child with “risks” and to consider that a parent may outlive their child, but these children need and deserve families as much as anyone else. I have spoken with quite a few parents with HIV+ children and they stress that their children are just that…children. Their worries in life are homework and friends and their soccer team or prom and college applications. They live full and healthy lives and are not defined by the disease they were born with. They are children.

For more information on Pediatric HIV and adopting HIV positive children you can visit:
Chance By Choice
AHOPE for Children and Adoption Advocates International
The Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation