Adopting a Child Living with HIV – Information Evening
Don’t miss this special event!
On Saturday, April 14th, 2012
Adopting a Child Living with HIV
An Information Evening presented
by The Children’s Bridge
This information evening is aimed at providing information to those who are considering, or are already in process of adopting a child living with HIV, or for family and/or friends of the adopting family who wish to learn more. This event will also be useful to adoption practitioners, or those in the field who will be working closely and supporting families parenting a child lving with HIV. Please note: This event is open to any families planning to adopt a child living with HIV, and not just those families in process with The Children’ Bridge.
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik -
Masai Centre, Guelph, HIV/AIDS pediatrician)
When: Saturday, April 14th, 2012, 7:00PM to 9:00PM
Where: Holiday Inn, 2565 Argentia Road, Mississauga, Ontario
Suggested Donation: $10/person or $20/family to the Bracelet of Hope
Foundation: http://www.braceletofhope.ca
RSVP: by April 6th, 2012 – Karyn Bakelaar (Program Manager HIV & Kids Adoption Program) – karyn.bakelaar@childrensbridge.com
Agents of Change
If you are looking for something to inspire you (and who isn’t in the dark month of February!), I highly suggest checking out “Celebrating Agents of Change in the HIV/AIDS Community” – an online publication which highlights leaders and activists such as Dr. Zadjlik (Bracelet of Hope/Masai Centre) and Dr. Kilby (Canada Africa Community Health Alliance).
Click here for the online version:
http://content.yudu.com/A1rtqz/agentsofchange/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.braceletofhope.ca%2Fhome%2F
8 Surprising Facts About Adopting HIV-Positive Kids
8 Surprising Facts About Adopting HIV-Positive Kids
BY Jennifer Fulwiler
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/8-surprising-facts-about-adopting-hiv-kids/
It’s always nice to come across good news for a change, so I was excited to see this article on MSNBC about how more families are adopting HIV-positive children (don’t miss the great video at the bottom). Up until recently, I didn’t know that anyone could or did adopt children who were HIV positive. I assumed that it was too difficult, too risky, too expensive and maybe even illegal; and, sadly, I was also ignorant of the sheer number of HIV-positive children out there who need homes.
Then I met a local couple who, after a long and careful discernment, felt called to welcome two HIV-positive children into their home (they shared their story with me here). Ever since then I’ve followed the lives of my local friends and some bloggers I discovered who are raising HIV-positive children, and through their stories I’ve learned a lot about the subject. Seeing the lives of these families has dispelled a lot of the misconceptions I used to have on the subject, and I thought it might be helpful to write up a summary of some of the facts I found most surprising and interesting for those who might be as unfamiliar with the subject as I was:
1. HIV-positive orphans often have almost no chance of being adopted in their home countries
Even though there’s still plenty of misinformation about the subject here in the United States, our understanding of HIV/AIDS is much further along than that of many countries. Unfortunately, many of the areas of the world where there are the highest numbers of HIV-positive children needing homes are areas where people with the disease face the biggest stigmas.
2. Children with HIV who have access to good medical care usually have normal life expectancies
HIV is no longer considered a terminal illness, and is thought of by the medical community more as a chronic condition like Type I diabetes. According to the National Institute of Health, the life expectancy of HIV-positive people who have access to medical care is about the same as non-infected people.
3. There has never been a case of someone contracting HIV through normal household contact
You cannot get HIV from sharing food and drinks or using the same bed or toilet as an HIV-positive person. You also can’t contract it from changing diapers, hugging, kissing, or from bathing or swimming with someone who’s infected with the virus.
4. Modern drug therapies can render the HIV virus almost undetectable
My friend who is the mother of two HIV-positive children tells me, “On average, only one week after beginning HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), 90% of all HIV in the body is gone; within one month, 99% is gone.” Related to the above, this also makes the disease much less likely to be transmitted, even in cases of blood contact.
5. It is usually possible to get health insurance for HIV positive kids
In most situations, it’s required by law that health insurance cover adopted children the same as biological children, regardless of pre-existing conditions. Also, employer-sponsored group plans usually cover HIV. In addition, most states offer assistance for the medical care of HIV-positive adults and children.
6. The laws have recently changed to make it easier to get HIV-positive children in the country
It used to be the case that adoptions of HIV-positive kids were complicated by the need to obtain a I-601 waiver, but a recent change in the laws took HIV off the list of the Centers for Disease Control’s List of Communicable Diseases of Public Health Significance. This means that parents adopting HIV-positive children can expect similar timeframes for the visa process as there would be with any other adoption.
7. You can see pictures of HIV-positive children currently in need of homes
One thing that made me really begin to pay attention to this issue was seeing pictures of kids with HIV who are currently in need of homes, like the ones here at Project Hopeful. To look into the eyes of a little human being, rather than simply reading about statistics and data, made me understand why an increasing number of people are opening their hearts and homes to this challenging but deeply rewarding call.
8. Regular people (not just saints) adopt HIV-positive kids
One thing I’ve noticed about all these families is how normal they are. As you can see from the list of testimonials here, many of the parents of infected children had never considered such a thing before, and had plenty of fears and hesitations. My friend once told me of her decision to go this route: “I’ve learned that while perfect faithfulness should be what we all aspire to, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other faithfulness is often the best I can give, and thankfully, it’s often enough. You do not need to be extraordinary; you just need to keep going. As I daily remind myself, I may not know where the path I walk is headed, I may be fearful along the way, but I know Who walks beside me. And all roads walked in faithfulness lead to Him.”
Obviously, adopting a child with any kind of significant medical needs is a special call, and not something that every family is meant to do. But I’m glad to see the word getting out about the possibility of HIV-positive adoption, so that nobody overlooks this choice for expanding their family out of a simple lack of information.
Inspiring story – Ben Banks
I just wanted to share this link with you which outlines the life so far of Ben Banks – the Ambassador for the Elizabeth Glasser Ped. AIDS Foundation. Ben was infected with HIV at the age of 2 during a blood transfusion, and speaks as various HIV/AIDS related events raising awareness and inspiring those he touches!
http://pedaids.org/getdoc/4b0e5bbd-2441-4305-b398-8e6f3f35d3fe/Meet-Foundation-Ambassador-Ben-Banks
How You Can Help!
First off, I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to email me to let em know they have found the Sinethemba website to be helpful – it is so nice to hear! And although not all families who look into adopting a child with HIV ultimately decide that it is a good option for their family, many learn a great deal about HIV and end up doing amazing things with this knowledge in other ways.
On that note…I am reaching out to all of you to see what you might be able to offer new families in terms of support and information. This is not just for families who are parenting children livingw ith HIV, but really applies to anyone who has the interest and the time (even if it’s only a little time!) to help out.
1) The biggest concern most families have is what the cost of ARV’s might be for their child, and what costs are out-of-pocket compared to what is often covered by private benefits. Of course, not only will these costs vary with every child, they wil also vary according to what province you live in. If any of you are open to sharing any information you have or that you have gathered regarding your provincial health coverage as well as average costs and/or back-up plans for drug costs (such as Ontario’s Trillium Foundation), it would be greatly appreciated! Please email me at: sinethemba@live.ca. I will create a section on the blog for this information.
2) If there are any families out there parentinga child living with HIV (adopted or not!) and you would be open to “mentoring” a family who is just starting out an their adoption journey, please send me an email to let me know how you would be able to provide support (email, phone calls, in-person meetings) and when you may be able to start this. This will be done in a way that ensures confidentiality depending on how you have chosen to handle the issue of disclosure and the comfort level you and your family has on sharing information.
3) Fundraising – Many families have asked me when Sinethemba will be able to offer adoption grants to families adopting a child living with HIV. This is a very good question! In order to make this part of Sinethemba a reality, I am going to need to need some support from the wider community. If you think you would be able to fundraise, assist in creating grant applications, etc, please let me know. This is a huge task and so the more help we have, the faster we can get that portion of the foundation up and off the ground! I am very open to hearing ideas, thoughts, plans as to how we may be able to move the grants project forward!
Please note: All of the funds collected will go through Emmanuel’s Wish Foundation (http://www.emmanuelswish.org/Donate.html) and donors who commit over $20 will be mailed a tax receipt. Please be sure to choose “Sinethemba” from the drop down list on the website if you’d like to donate.
4) Lastly, I would love to create a page where families can share their personal stories of adopting, and then parenting, a child living with HIV in Canada. All personal information can be changed to ensure confidentiality. This page will be the true inspiration to those who are still researching this possibility – as they see “real families’ and “real issues” that have all been a part of the experience. I want you to share the good, the bad and the ugly here!!! Please email me at sinethemba@live.ca if you would like to submit your story.
Thanks again to all who have taken to time to contact me – I hope to hear from more of you soon!
Convicted of Murder for Spreading HIV
Convicted of murder for spreading HIV, man faces dangerous offender hearing
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia NewsMay 9, 2011
Johnson Aziga, convicted of first-degree murder for infecting sexual partners with HIV, may be declared a dangerous offender.
The hearing in Hamilton, Ont., is expected to last up to three weeks and hear from numerous witnesses for both the Crown and defence who will speak to the options available for sentencing and parole for the 54-year-old.
Aziga was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of aggravated assault and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault by a jury in 2009, following 2 1/2 days of deliberation.
During the trial, the jury heard that two women, identified only as H.C. and S.B., were lethally infected with HIV by Aziga, who never told them about his medical status.
As a result, the two women were unable to seek effective treatment when they became ill, which led to AIDS-related cancers and their deaths. Another five of Aziga’s sexual partners tested positive for HIV, while four other women tested negative.
Prosecutors told the jury that Aziga “outright lied” about his HIV-status and, in some cases, convinced his sex partners that condoms were not necessary.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can result in AIDS, a frequently fatal disease that attacks the immune system and can spread through the exchange of blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk.
Aziga, a former research analyst with Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, has been in prison since his arrest in August 2003. He still faces a sentencing hearing for his conviction, which will follow the dangerous offender hearing.
His Toronto-based lawyer, Davies Bagambiire, said this process has been lengthy because both sides have had to go through volumes of documents and line up experts to testify.
“This has been a long and difficult case,” he said Monday. “It’s unprecedented.”
A dangerous offender designation allows the court to impose an indeterminate sentence: a dangerous offender can be held in custody until he is no longer considered to be a threat to the public. A first-degree murder conviction carries a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Bagambiire said one of his arguments will be whether institutionalization is the best method to deal with someone like Aziga, who has been dealing with HIV since he was diagnosed in 1996.
He added that his client, a native of Uganda, continues to suffer in prison from the stigma associated with the disease.
“The stigma continues. It has nothing to do with him, it has to do with the nature of society,” said Bagambiire. “In prison, the population obviously has him stigmatized as someone with HIV. They think they’re being careful because they don’t want to be infected by him. That hasn’t stopped and that has nothing to do with him, it’s the nature of prison life.”
Some legal experts have criticized Canada over the case, suggesting it has set a dangerous precedent by criminalizing HIV patients.
According to the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, criminal charges have been laid against people living with HIV in more than 120 cases across the country. In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that someone who did not disclose their HIV-status could be found guilty of aggravated assault, but the escalation to the more serious charge of murder is worrisome, said the advocacy group.
linnguyen@postmedia.com
twitter.com/lindathu_nguyen
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Johnson Aziga, convicted of first-degree murder for infecting sexual partners with HIV, may be declared a dangerous offender.Photograph by: Handout, CNS
More families are adopting HIV-positive children
The Seattle Times – By David Crary
The immediate task might be coaxing a toddler into one more swallow of nasty-tasting medication. Longer term, there are tough choices to be made about telling that child – and the surrounding community – why those daily doses may be needed for the rest of his or her life.
While most adoptions present challenges, there’s a distinctive set of them facing parents who decide to adopt children living with HIV. A twice-daily medication regimen, lingering prejudice and fear, uncertainty about the child’s longevity and marriage prospects.
Yet the number of U.S. parents undertaking HIV adoptions, or seriously considering them, is surging – from a trickle five years ago to at least several hundred. Most involve orphans from foreign countries where they faced stigma, neglect and the risk of early death.
“I can’t think of a more significant way to make an impact than to do this,” said Margaret Fleming, a 74-year-old Chicagoan whose nine adopted children include three HIV-positive first graders.
“These kids were, in many ways, the modern-day lepers,” she said.
Ignorance and bias related to HIV haven’t vanished in the United States. But the stigma is steadily lessening, especially compared to many of the other countries that are home to an estimated 2.5 million children with the disease.
At forums and over the Internet, parents who have adopted HIV-positive kids are offering advice and encouragement to those who might follow suit. In February, Bethany Christian Services – the largest U.S. adoption agency – unveiled a detailed educational package about HIV adoptions to help the growing number of interested parents make informed decisions.
“We didn’t feel we could ethically place these kids without some really solid education for these families,” said Sara Ruiter, Bethany’s international services coordinator. “There are some very unique, chronic challenges that we want to be on the parents’ mind.”
One of the most difficult challenges, for many families, is deciding whom they will tell about the adoptive child’s HIV status. Health care providers must be informed – otherwise, under federal and state confidentiality laws, it’s entirely optional whether parents notify school officials, neighbours, or anyone else.
As a result, families’ approaches vary widely – some are totally open while others, fearful of stigma, guard the information so tightly that even the child may be kept in the dark for many years.
“Once your child’s status is disclosed, you cannot `take it back,’ so careful consideration and thought should be given to this important issue,” Bethany advises.
For Tim and Annette Franklin, of Bridport, Vt., the decision to be open about their adopted daughter Gedeleine’s HIV status was intended to make clear it’s nothing to be ashamed of. “We were concerned that by being overly secretive, we would be contributing to the stigma,” said Tim Franklin, a Congregational minister.
“Inevitably, in families where there are secrets, the secrets end up being destructive,” he said. “We felt it’s going to come out, and we want to control the way it happens, rather than it coming out in a bad way.”
Gedeleine, who will turn 4 in May, was living in a Haitian orphanage when the catastrophic earthquake struck there on Jan. 12, 2010. Already in the adoption pipeline, she was airlifted to Florida 11 days later with dozens of other children, then taken to her new home in rural Vermont.
There have been moments where Gedeleine balked at taking the twice-daily dose of three HIV medicines. But her parents, who have four biological children ranging in age from 8 to 19, say the adoption has been a heartwarming success overall, to the extent that they are now completing arrangements to adopt an HIV-positive boy from Ethiopia.
The arrival of 13-year-old Epherem will speed up the timetable for the Franklins to tackle one of the other distinct challenges of HIV adoptions – having frank discussions with the child about the impact of their status on any future sexual relationships, and the need to be honest with any partner.
“We’ll have to find out what he knows about sexuality, what he knows about his disease, what values he’s been exposed to,” Tim Franklin said. “One of the things we’ll try to help him understand is that he has a responsibility to other people.”
Like the Franklins, Ryan and Stacy Vander Zwaag of Mears, Mich., have decided to be open about the HIV status of their newly adopted 2-year-old daughter, Luisa, who just arrived from Colombia on March 19. They even have a detailed section about HIV on the family blog.
“We did not have to tell anyone,” the Vander Zwaags write. “But we believe God has given us this opportunity to educate others about the precious children like Luisa (and adults too) that are living with HIV and AIDS and help raise awareness and truth instead of ignorance and fear.”
Luisa joins a household bustling with the Vander Zwaags’ four biological sons, aged 5 to 13, and daughter Anaya, almost 4, who was adopted from Guatemala in 2008.
The boys were briefed in stages about their new baby sister — first being told she had a blood disorder, then getting the full story that she had HIV. There were specific instructions about precautions to take if Luisa bled from an open cut, but the overall message was one of reassurance that the disease can’t be spread through casual contact.
Ryan Vander Zwaag, the youth pastor at a Baptist church, said he and his wife had talked about adoption ever since they married right out of high school. The more they learned about the vast numbers of HIV-positive orphans, the more interested they became in bringing one into their family. Fears about exposing their own family to health risks and prejudice gradually faded as they read articles, attended a conference, and spoke with other parents who had undertaken HIV adoptions.
“It’s not that hard,” said Stacy Vander Zwaag. “And there are so many kids who would die without it.”
Luisa was in that category, her parents said. A doctor told them she would almost certainly have died soon had she stayed in the Colombian foster home where she was placed as an infant.
“She was removed from her parents because of medical neglect,” Ryan Vander Zwaag said. “It was nothing she did. It was choices her mother and father made that got her infected with HIV.”
The Vander Zwaags have been homeschooling their four sons, but they hope to place Anaya and Luisa in a nearby Spanish immersion school so the girls can be fluent in the language of their homelands.
So far, they say, friends, neighbors and church members have been overwhelmingly supportive of the news about Luisa, but they know complications might await in the future.
“As she goes through her teens and her dating years, there are going to be questions, and a lot of tears over it,” her father said. “She’ll have to find that right guy to walk with her through life. That will be challenging. She can live a full life, she can have kids, by being careful, taking the medicine.”
There are no firm figures on the number of HIV-positive adoptions in the U.S., though adoption experts say most involve children from abroad because American mothers with HIV are usually able to avoid transmitting the disease to their babies by taking medication during pregnancy.
Throughout most of the AIDS epidemic, only a relative handful of HIV-positive foreign children came to the U.S. because of strict U.S. immigration policies that limited entry for anyone with the disease.
In January 2010, that restriction ended – enabling children with HIV to enter as easily as other adoptive children.
“That change helped drastically,” said Erin Henderson of Afton, Wyo., who is HIV coordinator for Adoption Advocates. The agency handled 37 adoptions of HIV-positive Ethiopian children in 2010, up from four in 2006, and is also working on HIV adoptions from India, Ghana, Thailand, China and Eastern Europe.
Henderson’s current job grew out of personal experience – she and her husband have three biological children and eight adopted children, including an HIV-positive daughter and son from Ethiopia.
“Our plan initially was to keep that private – just share it with family members,” Henderson said. “But we decided we would have to be open … I hated the way it felt to tell our other kids to lie.”
When they first heard they were getting HIV-positive siblings, the other children were all 11 or younger – and Henderson said they all took the news cheerfully in stride.
“If they’d been older, it might have been more of an issue,” she said. “They didn’t know much about it, and we were very matter-of-fact.” There’s no consensus that early and full disclosure is best.
Dr. Jane Aronson, a New York city pediatrician who specializes in the care of children adopted from abroad, argues that HIV-positive children have a right to keep their status private until they’re old enough to have a say regarding who is informed.
“Some parents have made a decision to define their children’s identity now – it’s more about them than about the kids,” Aronson said. “That could be very challenging when the children grow up. They didn’t have a choice.”
Margaret Fleming, the Chicago woman with three adopted, HIV-positive children, runs a support service called Chances by Choice that recruits and advises parents interested in HIV adoptions. While the group’s official advice is that disclosure “is totally at the discretion of the parents,” Fleming personally opted for openness.
Her three first-graders “already know they’re HIV-positive,” she said. “I am completely open with them, our neighbors, their schools.”
At the local elementary school, teachers and staff responded supportively, Fleming said, with the principal easing the concerns of one parent who called to complain.
At a summer camp, however, the director was angry when he learned after-the-fact that one of the HIV-positive children was attending, even though Fleming had mentioned that on the application form.
From a very early age, Fleming’s three children with HIV learned they had a chronic health problem that required taking unpleasant-tasting medicine. Initially, she told them their blood “is not strong” – now they, as well as their siblings, know the problem is HIV, and the older ones help administer the medicine when Fleming isn’t home.
“They are great ambassadors,” Fleming said of her three HIV-positive children. “They’ve dispelled a lot of myths.”
Chief among the myths, she said, are misconceptions on how HIV is transmitted and fears that HIV-positive children risk not reaching adulthood.
“My own children look terrific,” Fleming said. “They can live long, happy lives.”
Resources on HIV adoptions: http://www.projecthopeful.org/resources
Back in Canada!
Hi all,
This is just a quick post to let you know that I am back from South Africa after spending the past month there with my two boys. I had very limited access to the internet/email – so if you emailed me while I was away and I haven’t yet replied – please send it through again if you are still waiting for information.
We spent most of our trip in a small town in KwaZulu Natal – it is located almost right in between Durban and Pietermaritzberg. A good friend of mine has started an HIV/AIDS hospice there, and so some of our time was spent helping out where we could and learning more about the immense challenge HIV/AIDS has cause throughout South Africa – as it has in many parts of the world.
My older son and I kept a trip blog for family and friends to look at while we were away, and one of the days I posted a bit about our experience with SA medical care and our time at the hospice. If you like to have a look, here is the link: http://thabisoswish.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/some-realities-of-life-in-sa-march-11th/
Anyways, I am back to work now and the CB HIV+ Kids Adoption program is really getting off the ground which is very exciting! As I mentioned in a previous post, if any of you know of other agencies in Canada that support the adoptions of HIV+ Kids, please just let me know and I’ll add a link on the site.
Looking forward to good things to come as more and more families learn about this option for expanding their families!
VICTORY FOR BILL C-393 IN HOUSE OF COMMONS; NOW A RACE AGAINST TIME IN SENATE
Last week, Bill C-393 – the private member’s bill to fix Canada’s broken Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) – passed its final hurdle in the House of Commons when a large majority of MPs voted in favour at third reading.
But it must still pass through the Senate in order to become law – and there may be only a few sitting days left to achieve this before a federal election is called. If Parliament is dissolved for an election before the bill passes through the Senate (and receives Royal Assent), Bill C-393 dies on the Order Paper. The campaign to pass the bill is therefore continuing and intensifying.
House of Commons: Large majority votes for Bill C-393
Last week’s victory in the House of Commons came at the end of a whirlwind of media coverage and other events on Parliament Hill, including a press conference hosted by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network with the participation of internationally acclaimed musician K’naan, former UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, Dr. James Orbinski of Dignitas International and Ms. Fanta Ongoiba of Africans in Partnership Against AIDS.
In addition, dozens of health professionals and scientists sent an open letter to all Parliamentarians calling on them to pass Bill C-393 (see http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/camr/documents/Health-sci_ltr-ENG.pdf), as did a wide and diverse array of faith leaders from across the country (http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/camr/documents/FaithLtr_EN.pdf).
At the final vote, 172 MPs voted in favour and 111 against. This sizable majority exceeded the expectations of activists who have been campaigning for years to fix CAMR. All MPs from the New Democratic Party (which sponsored the bill) and the Bloc Québécois supported the bill, and the overwhelming majority of Liberal Party MPs voted in favour (with only 2 voting against). From the Conservative Party, 26 backbenchers voted for the bill; regrettably, the Conservative government partially whipped its vote, requiring Cabinet Ministers and parliamentary secretaries to vote against the bill.
(To find out how an individual MP voted, see http://bit.ly/dUFjdh. Note that not every MP was in the House for the vote.)
As reported in a previous update, before Bill C-393 was put to a final vote, the House of Commons also voted:
* to restore the “one-licence solution” – which forms the core of the reforms to streamline the current CAMR; and
* to amend the definition of “pharmaceutical products” that can be exported under CAMR – a definition that is not restricted to a list of specific medicines for specific diseases, but in fact exactly reflects what was already agreed to years ago by Canada and all other countries at the World Trade Organization.
In addition, upon a motion by the Bloc Québécois, the House of Commons voted to insert a “sunset clause” into the bill which in effect means the reforms to CAMR have been given a 10-year trial period. After that time, they will become permanent if the House of Commons agrees, following a committee review. The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and other advocates have opposed any sunset clause on principle, but this clause represents a compromise that should still allow for economies of scale and sufficiently long-term supply arrangements to make it viable for generic pharmaceutical manufacturers and eligible importing countries to make effective use of CAMR.
Race against time in the Senate
Despite Bill C-393′s passage in the House of Commons, it must also now be passed by a majority vote in the Senate – and this must happen before Parliament ends, which seems increasingly likely to happen, possibly within days if the minority Conservative government falls on a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons in response to its budget bill or other controversial matters all arising in the House.
Fortunately, this scenario can be avoided – if there is the political will, the Senate’s procedures easily allow for it to pass Bill C-393 in a matter of days. The Liberal Party has confirmed publicly that its Senators will support the legislation in the Senate and support dealing with it in a timely fashion.
The key question, therefore, is what Conservative Senators, who constitute a majority in the Senate (unlike the House of Commons), will do. Already there are expressions of support from some Conservative Senators, but concern remains about what approach the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper will take, given its opposition to the bill to date.
The bill is currently scheduled for second reading on Monday, March 21st and could be passed by the middle of the week if there is a desire to see this humanitarian initiative become law. But given the growing prospects of a federal election as early as the end of next week, any delay in dealing with Bill C-393 will very likely mean it dies on the Order Paper.
It should be remembered that, when CAMR was first created in 2004, Senators moved quickly and unanimously to approve a bill with urgent humanitarian objectives that had widespread support in the House of Commons and among the public – all of which are again the case today.
In addition, the current Senate is already very familiar with this legislation. In 2009, the Banking Committee dealt with a virtually identical bill (Bill S-232) which enjoyed support from a number of Conservative Senators. The Committee heard from all the expert witnesses it felt necessary and retains a very complete file on the issues involved. Regrettably, that bill died on the order paper when Parliament was prorogued later that same year.
Action needed
In a matter of days, tens of thousands of emails, letters and phone calls have been sent to Conservative and Liberal leaders in the Senate, calling on them to pass Bill C-393 without further delay, to ensure that it can become law before a federal election. Campaigning is continuing and intensifying in the days ahead to ensure that Senators act quickly.
To take action, please visit one or more:
AVAAZ: www.avaaz.org/en/save_lives
Legal Network: www.LetDemocracyWin.ca
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM):
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6158/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6028
A full action alert, including a sample script for calls to Senators’ offices and further contact information, is available at: http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/camr/documents/URGENTACTIONCALL_MARCH%2016-22.pdf.
For more information, visit www.aidslaw.ca/camr or follow the Legal Network on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aidslaw for updates.
HIV+ Kids Program at Children’s Bridge
Hi all,
A few weeks ago I posted on this site that CB was moving forward establishing an HIV+ Kids Adoption program (for those who don’t know – I am a Program Manager there). Since then, I’ve been gathering resources and info that will be helpful to CB families, but of course will be available for anyone who is making this journey. I have been overwhelmed by the support for this program – by our Board of Directors, by families who are asking many questions, and by doctors and others in the profession who are willing to contribute whatever they can to support families. It is pretty amazing!
I will be away for the next month, but when I’m home many of the specialists from the Infectious Disease Clinic and International Adoption at CHEO have offered to sit down with me and discuss how they can best support the program. What an amazing team. Of course, they also will be able to help locate specialists throughout Canada – it’s all very exciting. The Canadian Childcare Federation has also provided resources, as has CATIE.
Anyways, I am just very thankful right now for the support for getting this off the ground so that I in turn can support families like yours.
Please remember, these resources and supports will be for all families looking at, or who have already adopted HIV+ children, this is not an agency plug (-: If you want me to post an info or supports that you local agency, clinic, or community has, please let me know!
