PLWH also excluded certain individuals from their
chosen families because there was no blood or familial tie.
Therefore, a lack of kinship was an important reason to
exclude someone from their family. For example, some
friends were excluded because they were not related by blood.
Further, although participants had positive relationships with
friends, participants sometimes excluded specific friends because of a lack of kinship. Individuals with whom PLWH
had relationships that were at an early stage or were for sexual
gratification were also not viewed by PLWH as members of
their chosen families. Specific responses included: