Hope for Children of AIDS Families

BACKGROUND: Tanya Shaw, 25, is one of a growing number of mothers with AIDS. As her health declined, Shaw wondered what would happen to her two healthy daughters (View, April 7). She discovered there were no options except Los Angeles County’s overburdened adoption system for dying parents who couldn’t--or wouldn’t--leave their children with family. So Shaw (pictured with daughter Chassidy, 2) resolved to create an independent adoption agency for children orphaned by AIDS.

UPDATE: Some of Shaw’s dreams are coming true this week as she signs an agreement to make “Tanya’s Children” an agency under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Center for Living.

Using the Center for Living’s nonprofit status--and administrative help--Shaw and a few volunteers will be able to create a referral service, matching people who want to adopt with AIDS-affected families.

Officials from the Center for Living and Shaw will hold a press conference at the end of this week to announce their joint venture, and a fund-raising banquet is in the plans. Shaw has spoken with four other HIV mothers--one with six children--who need help placing their children, and has set up a rudimentary system for screening adoptive parents. So far, she says she hasn’t found the right family to adopt her girls--Destini, 7, and Chassidy--but she remains hopeful.