St. Vincent's Services

Postive Caring Services

In 1988, the statistics in the AIDS crisis were unreservedly grim; the numbers depicted an epidemic seemingly out of control. After first being identified in the early 80s among gay men, it had spread with a vengeance to the heterosexual population, striking especially savagely at inner city men and women. One tragic result was that increasing numbers of children were being born HIV positive. It was in this milieu that ten years ago, St. Vincent's Services (SVS) asked Sister Elizabeth Mullane, an AIDS certified registered nurse, to research the needs of infants and children with HIV and then design and implement a program in foster care that would serve this population. The resulting program, Positive Caring Services (PCS), has set a standard for the care of HIV infected children throughout New York State. Today this program is the largest in New York City and the nation.

Under Sister Mullane, PCS's first task a decade ago was to select and train specialized foster care parents, people who went through extensive screening and education to care for a child not likely to live a normal life span. Although maintaining a loving, reassuring presence for the sick child was important, equally critical was the ability to administer medication and medical therapies. This was the responsibility such parents accepted. From the beginning, this group has been extraordinarily dedicated.

By the early 90s, it was clear that a safety net had to be established for the growing number of children who were being orphaned by AIDS related causes. When their parents died, the children not only suffered that loss, but then had to adjust to life with others, often with no preparation. Because of this track record in finding and training specialized foster parents, SVS became the first agency to volunteer to pilot the Child Welfare Administration's Early Permanency Planning Project, whose goal was to create a smooth transition for the child as he moved from his biological family to his foster family. Its purpose was to help each person, child and parent alike, cope with the impending death through individual and group therapy, while assisting with basic needs for shelter, schooling, daycare, medical care, and transportation. Today well over 500 children and parents have planned for their future through the EPP program.

As a natural outgrowth of its services SVS maintains a pediatric infectious disease clinic. The clinic has expanded its program to treat not only HIV/AIDS but also children with certain other medically fragile conditions.