Guardianship as a therapeutic option

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has posed a significant challenge to our legal system, demanding that it evolve to provide more flexible ways for parents to transfer guardianship of their children to other caring adults in a timely and minimally traumatic manner. Although a number of states have responded to the challenge, adopting new guardianship options such as delegations of parental authority for limited purposes, standby guardianship, co-guardianships, and subsidized guardianships, the majority of states still do not provide this continuum of options. Moreover, few states have established multidisciplinary programs that help parents take full advantage of the new guardianship options. Few have even begun to address the complex needs of the "second" families. Few have developed plans to meet the needs of the older AIDS-affected youth. How well we ensure the quality and continuity of parental care for children whose parents are living with HIV and AIDS, or who later die of it, is one of the tests of our generation. If we fail to meet this challenge, we are knowingly placing thousands of children and youth at enormous, predictable, and potentially fatal risk.