AIDS and the New Orphans

By the year 2000, as many as 125,000 children under the age of 18 in the U.S. will have been orphaned by AIDS. Social services in major urban centers such as New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Washington will be further overwhelmed by these new clients and their unique problems. In this book, experts on AIDS, bereavement, and children draw together and analyze research and practice models that may be vital to individual and public policy solutions.

The first chapter sets the stage by examining how Western culture approaches death. Issues of spirituality and children are discussed next, and the following chapters deal with childhood bereavement among latency-age children and adolescents. The role of culture and ethnicity are examined in the Latino and Black communities. Also, the conflicts and problems that new guardians face as they attempt to build new and secure relationships with grieving youngsters are addressed. The book ends with an examination of four projects that are reaching children and families and gives recommendations to practitioners. This book is an invaluable examination of a problem of growing social concern for social, medical, and mental health professionals, public policy analysts, and the general public.

BARBARA O. DANE is Associate Professor at the New York University School of Social Work and engages in private practice with individuals, families, and groups. A frequent lecturer on AIDS and bereavement, she has authored several articles and book chapters and is co-author of AIDS: Intervening with Hidden Grievers.

CAROL LEVINE is Executive Director of the Orphan Project: Families and Children in the HIV Epidemic. She has authored numerous articles and chapters on AIDS and bioethics, and is editor of A Death in the Family: Orphans of the HIV Epidemic. She was named a MacArthur fellow in 1993.