Children's fears for HIV parents

Children living with HIV positive parents are suffering in silence, according to a Scottish study.
Researchers said youngsters had significant worries about their parents and themselves.

But they felt they were unable to talk to either their family or their teachers about their concerns because of stigma and fear.

"All the children and young people interviewed care deeply about their parent and worry about their parent's health "

Report findings

The three-year study, which is said to be the first of its kind in the UK, was carried out by the national child agency Children in Scotland and the University of Edinburgh.
Children and young people in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow were questioned for the study.

More young people are facing life with an HIV positive parent because of the growing rate of heterosexual infection and improvements in treatments, which means sufferers are living longer.

Researchers asked the youngsters what it was like to live with a parent with HIV.

Many of the children questioned had already witnessed the death of one parent to HIV or Aids.

Upsetting
The youngsters said they had significant worries about both their parents and themselves.

However, they did not talk about the illness with their parents for fear of upsetting them.

Most of the children said they did not want their teachers to know and that they were not in a position to talk with medical staff.

The study said that this often left children with no-one to turn to for information, advice or support.

Many local authorities are said to have cut back on funding for support services, even though the number of cases is on the rise.

The report said: "All the children and young people interviewed care deeply about their parent and worry about their parent's health.

"Many emphasise that they are the same as everyone else and they want to be treated as 'normal', just as their parents strive to maintain an atmosphere of normality in the home."

The report will be presented to a conference in Edinburgh later this week.

It will recommend that all health boards should carry out an audit to identify the numbers of children and young people either using their services or accompanying their parents to health services.

New cases
There are also a number of recommendations aimed at improving guidelines for those giving support to young people.

Figures for December 2001 showed that there were more than 2,000 people in Scotland with HIV.

The number of cases involving heterosexuals was higher than that for gay men.