Predictors of Child Custody Plans for Children Whose Parents are Living with AIDS in New York City‪.‬

Worldwide, at least 10 million children have lost either a mother or both parents to AIDS (World Health Organization, 1999). About 125,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in the United States (Corey, 1999). Consequently, attention is being directed to how parents living with HIV or AIDS (PLHAs) influence the long-term welfare of their children. In the aftermath of losing a parent, children may receive inadequate mental health and medical care, as well as inadequate educational services and planning. One of the most difficult tasks faced by PLHAs is to decide who will care for their children for when the parent dies. However, insufficient empirical investigation of the custody planning behavior of PLHAs has been done. This article attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by reporting findings from an original empirical investigation and describing PLHA custody planning and factors that predict parental custody planning. Importance of Custody Planning