Barriers to Permanency Planning for Older HIV-Affected Caregivers

HIV disease is now a major reason that grandparents and other older caregivers assume custodial care of minor children whose parents have died or become incapacitated. Grandparents are becoming custodial parents for a growing number of orphaned children, either through kinship care or informal means. Although these older caregivers are raising minors again because their adult children are unavailable due to a life threatening illness, we know little about whether these older surrogate parents are planning for the eventuality of their own deaths. This exploratory, qualitative, grounded theory study explored the permanency planning experiences of older caregivers of HIV-affected and HIV-infected minor children. Five barriers emerged impeding the permanency planning process for these older caregivers: Lack of knowledge about the legal process, lack of legal authority, emotional concerns, lack of informal social support, and HIV-related stigma. Implications for gerontological social work include the need for more supportive and legal services for older HIV-affected caregivers who are raising minors, encouraging formal adoption and/or negotiations with living biological parents, and helping grandmothers to manage disclosures and HIV-stigma. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.