Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Adoption by Parents With HIV Is Reversed

A judge in St. Petersburg, Fla., decided to reverse the adoption of a 3-year-old girl after discovering that her adoptive parents are infected with the AIDS virus. Circuit Judge Horace Andrews said he did not know the couple were infected when he granted the adoption earlier this year, since a law protects the confidentiality of people with AIDS. He said he would nullify the adoption next month on grounds of “fraud or mistake,” unless the couple give up their paternal rights first. The ruling came at the request of the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. Agency officials objected to placing the girl with terminally ill parents, although HRS employees had been aware of the couple’s diagnosis but recommended the adoption anyway.