Children in HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials: Still Vulnerable after All These Years

Abstract

“All things considered, I chose what was best for my children, or what I thought was best…” confessed Jean- Jacques Rousseau in 1782. What more can one expect from a parent or a professional entrusted with decisions about children? What Rousseau thought was “best” for each of his five infants, however, was to dispatch them to foundling homes in Paris, without even keeping a record of their birthdates, thus leaving them to an unknown but probably dismal fate.Acting from moral and often legal obligations to protect vulnerable persons from harm and to enhance their welfare, adults daily make decisions about and for children. Professionals and policy makers fulfill their social responsibilities by creating and implementing policies and practices that enable children's caregivers to fulfill these same goals.