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St Clare's Home for Children: a transitional foster home for children with AIDS
1AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, Newark, New Jersey 07107.
Insights
St Clare's Home for Children provides a vital transitional foster care service for young children with HIV/AIDS. This model facility offers a nurturing, homelike setting, enabling healthier children to transition from hospital to community care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Public Health Policy
- Social Services
Background:
- Children diagnosed with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) often require specialized care.
- Hospitalization can be detrimental to the well-being of otherwise healthy children, impacting their social and emotional development.
- Lack of appropriate transitional housing creates a gap in care for HIV-positive children awaiting permanent placement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the establishment and function of St Clare's Home for Children, a pioneering transitional foster care facility.
- To highlight the importance of homelike environments for the care of children with HIV/AIDS.
- To present St Clare's as a replicable model for community-based care.
Main Methods:
- Establishment of a dedicated transitional foster home.
- Provision of care for children aged six years or younger with HIV, ARC, or AIDS.
- Facilitation of placement with parents or foster parents.
Main Results:
- St Clare's successfully provides a homelike environment for children transitioning from hospital settings.
- The facility caters to the specific needs of young children with HIV/AIDS.
- Strong community support has been garnered for this innovative care model.
Conclusions:
- Transitional foster homes like St Clare's are crucial for the well-being of HIV-positive children.
- The model demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of community-based care for children with HIV/AIDS.
- St Clare's serves as a benchmark for future initiatives in pediatric HIV/AIDS support services.
Abstract:
St Clare's Home for Children in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is a transitional foster home for children aged six years or younger who have AIDS, ARC, or who are HIV-positive. The home's purpose is to allow these otherwise healthy children to leave the hospital and live in a homelike environment while awaiting placement with their parents or foster parents. The first home of its kind, St Clare's has received strong community support and has been cited as a model by the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic.