Pregnancy Options Counseling

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Pregnancy Options Counseling Understanding
Infant Adoption2 Training Events 1 Day

• Shelley Miller, MS
• TRAINING 3, Family Planning Council, Inc.
• Phoenix, Arizona
• September 19, 2006

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History of the Project

• TRAINING 3 and Spaulding For Children, Inc.
  Southfield, MI, partnered in order to provide the
  Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program
  (IAATP) to Title X providers
• TRAINING 3 staff provide feedback to Spaulding on
  their development of a 4-hour curriculum,
  targeting Title X providers
• TRAINING 3 staff attended the 3 day, Training of
  Trainers in the IAATP curriculum

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Pregnancy Options Conseling Understanding
Infant Adoption
UNDERSTANDING INFANT ADOPTION

• Two Training
• Events! 
• ONE DAY!!
• OPTIONSCOUNSELING and UNDERSTANDING INFANT
  ADOPTION

Two Training Events! ONE DAY!!
Your client is pregnant and she has questions Do
you have answers for her about her options?
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Audience

• All Title X Family Planning staff who provide
  pregnancy testing and/or work with pregnant
  women.

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Staff were invited to attend one or both of the
trainings
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Pregnancy Options Counseling

• Delivered by TRAINING 3

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Pregnancy Options Counseling

• Title X Family Planning providers are required to
  offer Pregnancy Options Counseling to all women
  and teens who receive a positive pregnancy test
  result. This includes a discussion of the
  options that are available to the client
  prenatal care and delivery, parenting, foster
  care or adoption, and abortion.
•  
• Through lecture, discussion, self-assessment,
  team activities, and case scenarios, participants
  in this training will learn client-centered
  skills that can be applied to help a client
  explore her feelings and concerns about her
  pregnancy, weigh the available alternatives, and
  make an independent decision.
•  
• After completing this training event,
  participants will be able to
• Describe the options a woman has when she
  becomes pregnant
• Explore counselor feelings and responses to
  options counseling and how they impact the work
• Apply client-centered options counseling skills

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Understanding Infant Adoption

• Delivered by TRAINING 3 in partnership with
  Spaulding

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Understanding Infant Adoption

• This training will focus on Understanding Infant
  Adoption, and is designed to help family planning
  professionals discuss adoption as an option with
  clients who are not sure that they want to parent
  the child.
•  
• Through lecture, discussion, self-assessment,
  demonstration, team activities, and video case
  scenarios, participants in this training will
  learn about the adoption law and practice
  specific to their state, birthfathers rights and
  responsibilities, special issues in counseling
  teens and much more.
•  
• After completing this training event,
  participants will be able to
• Recognize social, cultural and personal
  influences that may influence a clients decision
• Describe different types of adoptions
• Cite the requirements of adoption statutes in
  your state
•  

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More about the Pregnancy Options Counseling

• Exploring the Options Attitudes, values and
  feelings
• Review of Title X Regulations
• Facts and Information about all 3 options
• State laws
• Options Counseling
• Explore feelings
• Decision making
• Develop a plan

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Exploring Attitudes, Values and Feelings

• Explore factors that influence clients decision
  making
• Look at common themes
• Factors that influence peoples choice
• Explore participants attitude, values and
  feelings about adoption, abortion and parenting
• Values clarification exercises

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Review of Title X Regulations

• Agencies receiving Federal Title X Family
  Planning funding must adhere to specific
  regulations including
• None of the funds appropriated under this title
  shall be used in programs where abortion is a
  method of family planning AND
• A project must offer pregnant women the
  opportunity to be provided information and
  counseling regarding prenatal care and delivery
  infant care, foster care or adoption and
  pregnancy termination.

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Facts Information About all 3 Options

• Adoption
• Open vs. closed
• State agency vs. private
• Kinship
• Abortion
• Medical vs. surgical
• 1st trimester vs. 2nd trimester
• Maternal Care
• Importance of good health care
• Availability of medical insurance
• GOOD RESOURSES/REFERRALS for all options

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State Laws

• Review of laws specific
• to state where services
• are being provided.
• Parental consent
• Partner notification
• 24 hour waiting periods
• (much more detail on Adoption law in pm session)

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The Options Session

• Enable woman to explore feelings
• Use basic client-centered counseling skills
• Relationship with partner/family
• Assist in decision making process
• Explore advantage/disadvantages of
• each of her options
• Provide information so she can make
• informed choices
• Support her right/ability ot choose
  
• Help woman plan course of action
• Offer services (when appropriate)
• Refer

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What was Unique about the Project?

• By Spaulding and TRAINING 3 partnering to provide
  the Understanding Infant Adoption training, the
  unique issues that are addressed by Title X
  providers could be explored and discussed.

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Feedback from the training

• I think people should take this training within
  the first year of starting the job. I think it
  would help in better counseling with patients.

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Where do we go from here?

• Continue to partner with Spaulding and look for
  opportunities to deliver this program
• Continue to provide Options counseling to Title
  X providers with enhanced information on the
  Adoption Option
• Continue to support client-centered counseling
  skills

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Contact Information

• Shelley Miller
• 215 985-2645
• Shelley_at_familyplanning.org
• www.training3info.org