Positive Caring Services

The AIDS epidemic which began in the 1980s had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of children and families in New York City. Infants born with the virus were frequently left to languish in treatment facilities as their parents were often too sick to care for them. When the children entered foster care (usually upon the death of one or both of their parents), they needed especially skilled foster parents who were capable of dealing with the intensive, multiple demands of caring for a severely-and potentially terminally-ill child.

In response to this formidable challenge, in 1988 SVS established our Positive Caring Services (PCS) program. PCS was founded by Sister Elizabeth Mullane, an AIDS certified registered nurse. After researching the needs of infants and children with HIV she designed and implemented the PCS program to provide services specific to a foster care population. Since that time, Positive Caring Services has set the standard for care of HIV-infected children in New York State. The program has expanded over the years to accommodate infants and youth who are dealing with HIV/AIDS as well as other medically fragile conditions, including Spina Bifida, brittle bone syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism.

The PCS Program provides targeted assistance to the families of medically fragile children (birth, foster, and adoptive) in order to increase their ability to cope with the conditions affecting the children in their care. St. Vincent's Medical Treatment Center (which houses the PCS Program) operates a full service pediatric and adolescent clinic with specialties in neurology and pediatric and infectious diseases, providing comprehensive medical care to children and adolescents. The Center also provides training programs for foster and adoptive parents on how to deal with the often complex medical needs of their children. For example, many caregivers are required to perform specialized treatments such as tube feeding, suctioning, and chest physiotherapy, and must be able to identify subtle changes in their children's health which could signal the need for more extensive care. Our training services enable parents to perform a majority of these treatments at home, thereby enhancing the health and comfort of their children and allowing them to avoid lengthy and repeat hospitalizations.

Shortly after the PCS was begun, it became clear that a protocol would need to be established for the growing number of children who facing the eventual death of a parent due to AIDS-related causes. Accordingly, SVS became the first agency to pilot the Child Welfare Administration's Early Permanency Planning Project (EPP), whose goal was to create a smooth transition for children moving from a biological family to a foster family. Through the EPP, the PCS program provided individual and group therapy and assisted with obtaining basic needs such as food, shelter, schooling, day care, medical care, and transportation for participating families. Today, well over 500 children and parents have planned for their future through the EPP program.

The PCS program currently oversees the treatment of approximately 73 children who must cope with medically fragile conditions, including 18 who are infected with HIV/AIDS. In the last twenty-one years, PCS has improved the lives of nearly 10,000 children and adolescents, as well as their families and caregivers.

Today the PCS program is the largest program of its kind in New York City and the nation.

PCS has created and implemented a selection and training process for foster care parents that includes extensive screening and training particular to caring for a child not likely to live a normal life span. Although maintaining a loving, reassuring presence for the sick child is important, equally critical is the ability to administer medication and medical therapies. The extraordinary foster parents who are part of PCS eagerly accept this responsibility.