One of the most pervasive problems in child and family policy is the designation of responsibility for making decisions about the lives of children and youth. With emerging ethical and legal issues related to AIDS, it is necessary to determine adolescent competence to consent to HIV antibody tests, to participate in sex research, and to receive AIDS education. It is also necessary to decide if adolescent competence is even relevant and whether the threat of AIDS is sufficient to lower the threshold for segregating youth. Three problems arise in examining requirements for informed consent to participate in AIDS research: (1) information relevant to decisions about participation by emotionally disturbed youth may differ from that which is relevant for nonclinical peers; (2) some youth may be sensitive to the information disclosure process itself; and (3) information relevant to decisionmaking about AIDS research is often complex and uncertain. Although not a complete solution, one option implicitly suggested by Federal regulations is consultation by an independent advisory committee to make a third-party decision on adolescent participation in research. Issues of adolescent control over personal information about themselves and confidentiality are discussed. Consideration is given to the impact of AIDS on youth policy formulation and problems in identifying and labeling high-risk youth. 48 references.