Complex lives: resiliency of African American Women with HIV/AIDS serving as informal kinship care providers.

Using the resiliency model as a framework, this qualitative description study was designed to elicit the experiences of African American women living with HIV/AIDS serving as informal kinship care providers. Themes emerging from the interviews included (a) strengths of informal social supports, (b) benefits of living with HIV as opposed to women who are not HIV positive, and (c) negative experiences of child welfare services. Findings suggest a plethora of resources women accessed through community-based agencies because of their HIV/AIDS status, as opposed to child welfare agencies.