These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: AIDS and orphans: legal and ethical issues.
    Author: Siamwiza R.
    Journal: SAfAIDS News; 1998 Mar; 6(1):15-6. PubMed ID: 12222354.
    Abstract:
    This article explores the ethical and human rights issues surrounding AIDS and those orphaned by the epidemic in Zambia. A major area of controversy is on the rights of parents and children in adoptive or fostering relationships; civil law is unclear, and customary law treats children as the property of parents and selected kin. HIV/AIDS adds to the controversy concerning the following rights for adoptive and foster parents and children: 1) the right of prospective parents to know the health status of the child, and the child to know the prospective parent's status; 2) the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of the foster child's biological family after the placement; 3) the rights of adoptive or foster parents to public welfare assistance, health care, educational grants, particularly if the child has HIV; 4) property rights of adopted or foster children within their new families; and 5) the legal and civil rights of abandoned children. In conclusion, the ethical issues surrounding adoption and fostering require extensive research and public debate, taking into account the impact of broad socioeconomic changes affecting the extended family, as well as the impact of AIDS.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]