Orphans of the HIV epidemic: unmet needs in six US cities

In the United States, an estimated 72,000-125,000 children and adolescents will lose their mothers to AIDS by the year 2000. Six cities have been particularly hard hit: New York City, Newark, Miami, San Juan, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. The most urgent unmet needs for children, their families and new guardians are for mental health services, including bereavement counselling; transitional services to help overcome the loss of AIDS-related benefits following the parent's death; legal services; housing supports, and appropriate evaluations and referrals by juvenile justice and school staff to community-based services. Professional staff need additional training and support. Public policies and legal standards should stress a preference for maintaining children in their extended families, broadly defined, whenever possible. Much more needs to be done to improve the lives and futures of these youth.