The objective of this study has been to investigate the adjustment challenges of AIDSrnolphans, that is, their psychological and social adjustment to AIDS related parentalrndeath, their assumed connectedness to their caregivers, the nature of their socialrninteractions, their self-esteem and their emotional adjustments. Hence, 61 AIDS orphansrnand 4 counselors were selected from OSSA (Organization for Social Services for AIDS)rnin Adama city using random sampling method.rnRegarding assumed connectedness, 32 (52.46%) of those children have no assumedrnconnectedness to their guardians, 17 (27.86%) have very weak assumed connectedness torntheir guardian, 6 (9.84%) have weak assumed connectedness to their guardians, 5rn(8.19%) have strong assumed connectedness to their guardians and one child has veryrnstrong assumed connectedness to his guardian. Thus, the majority of AIDS OIphans dornnot assume themselves to be psychologically connected to their guardians. When Chisquarerntest of independence was computed to test whether depression was related to thernassumed connectedness of these children, the calculated x 2 value was 42.77 -rnsignificant. This shows that the level of depression is not independent of the extent tornwhich these children assume themselves to be psychologically connected to theirrncaregivers. This means, there was relationship between the levels of depression andrndegree of connectedness of AIDS orphans to their guardians!caregivers.rnIt was also found out from the research that AIDS orphans have scary dreams, feelrnunhappy, prefer to be alone, are worried, view themselves as hopeless about the future,rnand demonstrate low self-esteem. Chi-square test of independence showed that there wasrnno relationship between sex and age of these children.rnBesides, the children exhibit social adjustment problems. This means, they are sociallyrnawkward, shy, and show no interest in social relationships. Independent sample t-testrnwas used to test if the way AIDS orphans express their internal anxiety or emotion suchrnas nervousness, tension and worry was related to the age andlor sex of these children.rnFor age, the observed value of twas 1.29- not Significant. This means, the way AIDSrnorphans express their internal an.xiety or emotion such as n.ervousness, tension andrnworry was not related to the age of these children. For sex, the observed value of twasrn3.08- far greater than the table value of t, Qnd hence it is significant. This shows thatrnthere was relationship between the sex of AIDS orphans and the way they express theirrninternal anxiety or emotion such as nervousness, tension and worry. Thus, no matterrnhow both males and female AIDS orphans express their nervousness, tension and worryrnhighly in the same way, male AIDS orphans seem to express their internal anxiety morernthan female AIDS orphans. Independent sample t-test shows that the more maturernAIDS orphans (16-18 years) have more social adjustment problems when compared tornthe younger AIDS orphans (l3-15).However, no significant sex difference had beenrnobtained on the social adjustment problems of the AIDS orphans. FinQlly, it wasrnrecommended that training has to be given to communities at large, AIDS orphans andrnguardians.