RoddaPalooza

I know, I know.  You all come to this site to see cute pictures of Lidya, not to hear my rantings and ravings about global social justice and other such issues.  Nonetheless, its my blog, and I'll post as I want.  And I do hope you read on (if you really don't want to...just scroll down to see the cute pics).

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had dinner with some moms who have adopted HIV+ children from Ethiopia.  I found out that in Ethiopia, HIV+ children do not receive any medication until they have full blown AIDS.  This obivously greatly reduces their chance of survival over a long period of time. 

In addition, I had no idea that there is currently a ban on people with HIV receiving visas to enter the United States.  This means that the adoptive parents must apply for and recieve a waiver in order to get visas for their children.  This waiver costs $545 per child, and requires extra time spent by the family in country, greatly increasing the overall cost of adoption. This waiver is not required for adoptive families adopting children with other special needs, many of which post a much higher public health risk to the US than HIV.

As we all now know and accept, children who are HIV+ do not pose a health risk to their communities.  HIV is not transmitted through physical contact or saliva, it is only transmitted through blood exchange or sexual intercourse.  Therefore, the chance that these children would transmit HIV to anyone in this country is extremely low.  (One of the moms told me that they even have drugs now that HIV+ women can take which allows them to give birth with an extremely low chance of transmitting the disease.).  On the flip side, during the adoption process families who are adopting HIV+ children go through an extensive screening process, and must prove that their insurance companies will cover the cost of HIV treatment.  This means that not only are you giving a child a family, but you're giving a child a chance to live.  HIV+ people in the US now have a full life expectancy, whereas in Ethiopia HIV is still a virtual death sentence.

The U.S. Senate is currently debating and voting on the PEPFAR bill, which includes a provision to strike the legislative ban on people with HIV receiving a US visa.  Senator Sessions (AL) has introduced an amendment to strike this provision, which would leave in place the discriminatory provision excluding people with HIV from
receiving a visa.  So, to boil it down, if the bill passes in its current form, there will no longer be a requirement for adoptive parents to get the visa waiver.  If the Sessions Amendment passes, the requirement will stay in place.  It is my firm belief that we should do everything in our power to make it easier, not more difficult, for families to adopt children who are HIV+.  If you agree, I strongly urge you to contact your Senator to ask him or her to vote against the Sessions amendment.  You can find a link to your senator's email address and phone number here http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

Thanks for listening (reading).  Now...back to cute pictures...