Almost half of parents with HIV died without custody plans, L.A. study.

LOS ANGELES -- Almost half of parents living with HIV died without custody plans for their children, according to a study published in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, April 2004. "Custody planning is a slow and unstable process in families affected by HIV."

The project at a Los Angeles AIDS clinic set out to describe and to examine predictors of making custody plans by parents living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The custody plans of 296 parents living with HIV for 708 children were examined over 5 years, with at least 85% reassessed annually.

The researchers found that over time, increasing numbers of parents living with HIV made custody plans for all of their children (23.8%-52.8%), typically with extended family members. However, parents change plans frequently, and 44.8% of parents living with HIV died without custody directions.

Custody planning was less likely:

* in families with only adolescent children,

* when parents had a partner,

* when parents were depressed.

Parents' disclosure of HIV status, physical health status, substance use, and ethnicity were unrelated to making custody plans.

The research was conducted by the AIDS Institute, Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, University of California, Los Angeles.