Helen Kay

Stigma and Parental HIV

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is experienced as a highly stigmatized disease by those with HIV and their families. Moreover, it has been argued that it is the stigmatized nature of HIV that separates it from other chronic illnesses (Bor and Elford, 1998; Geballe and Gruendel, 1995). Drawing from a recently completed qualitative study conducted in Scotland, this article examines the impact of HIV stigma on children and young people with a parent or carer with HIV. The starting point for the research (and for this article) is the perspective of the children and young people themselves. The article gives an account of their understanding of stigma, and explores the different methods that they have adopted to cope with the effects of living with such a stigmatized illness in the family. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study for social work policy and practice with children and young people affected by parental HIV.

Collaboration between schools and community education agencies in tackling social exclusion

This paper describes the nature of the joint initiatives taking place between primary and secondary schools in Scotland and community education providers in local authorities and the voluntary sector, as reported on by the schools themselves. It details the characteristics of the relatively few schools which had strong links with their communities in terms of provision, collaboration and participation in decision making. Ten case-study schools and a detailed comparison of practice are used to illustrate the variety of approaches to collaboration found among them. Differences are explained not only in terms of the actors’ perceptions of the purposes of the collaboration, the values inherent in such perceptions, the conditions under which collaboration took place and the practices in operation but also in more analytic terms of institutional boundaries and pedagogic purpose. It is suggested that this analysis will help plot various models of collaborative practice and provide a useful way of interrogating the multifaceted strands of social inclusion policy.

Social support and children affected by parental HIV

While HIV and AIDS continue to decimate the population of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV remains an issue of major concern for those working with children and families throughout Europe. The combined impact of intravenous drug use by young adults and heterosexual transmission means that increasing numbers of children and young people in many countries in Europe are growing up in families where one or both parents is HIV positive (EuroHIV Report 2001). This paper draws on findings of a recently completed qualitative study of children and young people in Scotland with a parent or carer with HIV. It is argued that social support is especially necessary and yet highly problematic for children and young people with a parent or carer with HIV.