The social welfare of women and children with HIV and AIDS : legal protections, policy, and programs /

Stein delivers on the promise of the subtitle, detailing laws, court cases, and public programs that have affected the status and welfare of the target population since 1981. The extensive section on children includes issues such as testing all newborns for HIV, foster care, adoption, and what legal plans parents who have the virus can make for their children. Another chapter examines the issues of confidentiality, testing, and reproductive choice from a constitutional standpoint. Not only is this volume up-to-date, but it also considers the effects of future developments such as welfare reform on this population. The straightforward presentation of facts, however, could have been enlivened by including more analysis, especially if informed by the existing literature on the social construction of public policy. The work is extensively documented, running to nearly 100 pages of notes and bibliography. A valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners. M. A. Saint-Germain California State University, Long Beach