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30 Child. Legal Rts. J. 1 (2010)
Protecting Children in America and Abroad: How Recent Abandonment of HIV Waiters Will Affect International Adoption

handle is hein.journals/clrj30 and id is 197 raw text is: 1 Protecting Children in America and Abroad: How the Recent Abandonment of HIV Waivers Will Affect International Adoption By Emily Chrissy Kendall* I. Introduction Although perhaps most famous for their castles, turrets and towers, architects of the Middle Ages did not limit themselves to the construction of these three structures. Rather, builders in the Middles Ages actively engaged in the erection of mini-towns, colloquially referred to as leper colonies.2 Typically located on islands or in other remote locations, leper colonies were designed to sequester those suffering from leprosy, declared unclean by the general population, from public places, institutions and gatherings. People living in the Middle Ages believed that leprosy was a punishment from God and extraordinarily contagious, and thus they quarantined their neighbors, friends and family if these persons exhibited any signs or symptoms of the 4 disease. Essentially, leper colonies were designed to prevent an epidemic of a disease of which the population was both extremely ignorant and exceedingly afraid. Advancements in medicine and breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of this disease led to the closing of most leper colonies in modem times.6 Notably, concomitant with the growing under- standing of the disease and the destigmatization of those afflicted with it. Once modem medicine gave the population no reason to be afraid of casual contraction of the disease, lepers were then able to re- enter society and move freely from place to place. However, as anachronistic as it may be, analogous efforts to separate the diseased from the healthy have replaced the leper colonies in recent years-the stigmatization has remained the same but the disease has changed. Supplanting leprosy as the fearfully unclean illness of the 20th and 21st centuries was HIV/AIDS.9 In the 1980s and 1990s, American scientists, world leaders, doctors and the public were at a loss as to how to treat, diagnose and even refer to this disease. 10 Doctors were so puzzled by the condition that it was not until July 27, 1982, that the word AIDS was first used in public to describe the hitherto indescribable condition that had killed over 1,000 Americans in the past year.11 In the almost three decades since 1982, the world has learned more about this disease than arguably any other sickness on the globe, as numerous countries expend massive financial efforts to study and develop a cure for AIDS, as well as to create more effective treatment and preventative measures. 12 The United States has risen to the position as the global leader in the world's collective effort to fight, contain and ultimately cure HIV/AIDS. The United States has amassed millions of dollars for appropriation to medical research and scientific discoveries in order to make the greatest strides possible in the treatment and discovery of a cure. 14 In stark contrast to these apparent humanitarian efforts, the United States has also taken efforts to curb its own HIV/AIDS population.15 In essentially an inversion of the leper colonies-whose aim was to consolidate all of the afflicted together in one place- the United States seeks to simply prevent HIV- positive individuals from entering its borders.16 To achieve this exclusion, the United States via its agency the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires individuals immigrating to this country to be tested for HIV.17 if the immigrant is HIV-positive, the United States requires him or her to obtain an approved HIV waiver before the applicant can enter the country.18 At least, it used to. Beginning on January 4, 2010, the USCIS, acting on authority from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), officially removed HIV from its list of communicable diseases of public health significance for which immigrants have to be tested if they want to become permanent residents of the United States.19 Starting on that date, HIV-positive immigrants who have been approved for permanent status will no longer have to disclose their HIV status nor apply for a waiver to move to the United States.20 This unprecedented type of de-classification will have incredible implications for the United States, its citizens and those seeking to immigrate to the nation. Specifically, the abandonment of this requirement for an HIV waiver has the potential to drastically change the face of international adoption. Multiple international adoptions agencies purposefully target American parents as adopters of HIV-positive babies.21 Prior to the removal of HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance, parents faced similar challenges in obtaining authority to enter the United States for their newly Vol. 30 * No. 3 * Fall 2010

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