Document 0685
 DOCN  M95A0685
 TI    Florida judge nullifies adoption by HIV-positive parents. 
 DT    9510
 SO    AIDS Policy Law. 1995 Mar 24;10(5):5. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       AIDS/95700236
 AB    Circuit Judge Horace Andrews has ruled that a three-year-old girl will
       be removed from her adoptive parents' care because they are infected
       with HIV. The girl, Elizabeth, will live with her adoptive father's
       parents rather than be placed for adoption with a stranger. The judge
       said he had to decide whether it would be more traumatic for Elizabeth
       to lose her parents now rather than watch them die later and be put up
       for adoption at an older age. The Florida Department of Health and
       Rehabilitative Services (HRS) knew the prospective father and mother
       (Charles and Mary) were HIV-positive, and initially recommended that the
       adoption go forward anyway. However, after the parents' HIV status
       became public, the HRS Secretary asked the court to reconsider the
       adoption, saying it was a mistake to place the girl in custody of
       terminally ill parents. Charles and Mary are resigned to the decision
       but both feel they have been victimized because of their HIV status.
 DE    Adoption/*LEGISLATION & JURISPRUD  Florida  *HIV Seropositivity  Parents
       NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).