AEGiS-AP: Judge: No HIV Adoption

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Judge: No HIV Adoption

The Associated Press, Thu, 22 Dec 94 3:20:10 PST

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- A judge has decided to take a 3-year-old girl from the adoptive parents who raised her since infancy after learning they are infected with the AIDS virus.

Circuit Judge Horace Andrews said he didn't know the couple was infected when he approved the adoption in March. He said he would nullify the adoption next month as a "fraud or mistake" unless they give up their paternal rights first.

The couple's attorney, Sylvia Barr, did not immediately return calls.

The judge ruled Tuesday at the request of Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services Secretary Jim Towey, who overruled his own employees and objected to placing the girl with terminally ill parents.

"It's not just about AIDS," Towey said Wednesday. "If these people had terminal cancer, it should be brought out. This is a case about finding the best permanent home for a child."

HRS employees knew the couple was infected, but recommended the adoption anyway, saying the parents were loving and had cared for the foster child since June 1992.

Neither the couple nor the girl was identified. Court papers said the 30-year-old father was diagnosed with AIDS in 1991, and his 28-year-old wife contracted the virus in 1990 but does not have AIDS.

The department required the couple to draw up wills and appoint a guardian for the girl if they should die or become too ill to care for her, but the judge wasn't told because of confidentiality laws, Towey said.

Papers presented to the judge described the couple as "healthy nonsmokers."

Towey said the employees should have told the judge what they knew in a closed session. He said a new policy requires employees to disclose terminal illnesses.

Towey said he "couldn't live with myself" if he didn't intervene.

"We did not give her a fair shake," he said.

Copyright (c) 1994 - The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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