SERVICE

One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.		  
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  CUSTODY

The care, control, and maintenance of a child. The court legally can award custody to an agency in abuse and neglect cases or to parents in divorce, separation, or adoption proceedings. Child welfare departments retain legal custody and control of major decisions for a child in foster care; foster parents do not have legal custody of the children for which they provide care.		  
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  TERMINATION

See CASE CLOSING 		 
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  PREGNANCY OPTIONS COUNSELING

Counseling services designed to help pregnant individuals make decisions about all possible options for a pregnancy including and not limited to parenting, adoption or other transfer of custody, and termination. See also BIRTH OPTIONS COUNSELING. 		 
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  BIRTH OPTIONS COUNSELING

Counseling services designed to help pregnant individuals make decisions about options for birth, including and not limited to parenting and adoption or other transfer of custody. Organizations providing Birth Options Counseling do not provide information and counseling about pregnancy termination. See also PREGNANCY OPTIONS COUNSELING. 		 
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  CRITERIA

Systematically developed, objective, and quantifiable statements used to assess the appropriateness of specific decisions, services, and outcomes.		  
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  PLANNING

The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.		  
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  SERVICE RECIPIENT

The individuals, groups, organizations, or communities that use, receive, or benefit from programs and services. Service recipients can include consumers, patients, family members, legal guardians, advocates, public/private organizations, employers, and purchasers. All are regarded as significant stakeholders served in a variety of agencies and practice settings.		  
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  COMMUNITY

A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.		  
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  PRACTICE

Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.		  
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  FAMILY

Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."		  
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  CASE

A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.		  
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  CONFIDENTIALITY

An ethical and practice principle that requires the protection of information shared within a professional-client relationship. An organization that upholds confidentiality prohibits personnel from disclosing information about persons served without their written consent.		  
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  PARENTS

Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term. 		 
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  PROCEDURES

Written instructions that outline the steps for performing a task(s) or operationalizing an administrative or service delivery process. A procedure can be written as a step-by-step set of instructions or as a narrative description of a process. A procedure tells someone how to do something not just what to do.

Unlike policies, procedures do not need to be approved or reviewed by the governing body, and need not be associated with a specific policy. For example, whereas a broad anti-discrimination policy requires grievance or other procedures in order to be operationalized within an organization, assessment procedures do not require a governing body approved assessment policy.

Note: Procedures are sometimes referred to as administrative policies.

  
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  PREVENTION

Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.		  
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  RESEARCH

For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.		  
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Pregnancy Support Services
  
Private Org Public Agency  

PS 6: Pregnancy Options Counseling/Birth Options Counseling

 
Individuals receive nondirective counseling and information services that help them make decisions about the pregnancy.
Note: Organizations that offer counseling on all possible options for the pregnancy (i.e., parenting, adoption or other transfer of custody, and termination) will be considered to provide Pregnancy Options Counseling. Organizations that offer counseling only on parenting and adoption or other transfer of custody (i.e., not on termination) will be considered to provide Birth Options Counseling, and will be rated according to slightly different criteria for standards PS 6.01, PS 6.02, and PS 6.07. See the interpretations to these standards for further guidance.
NA The organization does not provide counseling services designed to help individuals make decisions about their pregnancies.

PS 6.01

 
Individuals have the option to be counseled and fully-informed about all possible options for the pregnancy.
Interpretation: Possible options include parenting, planning for adoption or other transfer of custody, and termination. When an organization offers only Birth Options Counseling, and thus does not provide counseling and information related to termination, the organization should: (1) disclose this fact to service recipients, as referenced in the Interpretation to PS 1.02, and (2) demonstrate that it carefully considered its mission, capacity, resources, and community’s needs when it decided not to provide counseling on all alternatives for pregnancy resolution.
Note: When an organization does not provide direct counseling and information related to termination, practice could include providing individuals with a comprehensive list of other community providers that offer pregnancy counseling, support, and education services.
Research Note: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that individuals receive information about all options for the pregnancy.

PS 6.02

 
Counseling is nondirective and nonjudgmental, and helps individuals make the best decisions for their particular circumstances.
Interpretation: Although organizations that offer only Birth Options Counseling will not provide counseling on termination, they should still provide nondirective and nonjudgmental counseling regarding parenting and adoption or other transfer of custody.

PS 6.03

 
When family members or significant others, including the birth father, are involved in counseling services, all parties have opportunities to explore their individual feelings and needs.
Interpretation: When an organization provides joint counseling, it should ensure that counseling parties together does not inhibit a full exploration of individuals’ feelings. Accordingly, it may be appropriate to offer both joint and individual counseling. When the birth father or family requests counseling and the pregnant woman is opposed, the organization should make a referral or create a separate case. When a separate case is created, confidentiality must be protected at all times.

PS 6.04

 

Individuals have the opportunity to receive information and counseling regarding the implications of parenting that addresses:

  1. responsibilities associated with parenting;
  2. child care;
  3. living arrangements;
  4. costs associated with raising a child;
  5. how parenting will impact the expectant parents’ goals and plans for the future;
  6. whether family members or friends will be willing to help the expectant parents;
  7. the role that the birth father will play; and
  8. single parenting or the possibility of marriage.

PS 6.05

 

Individuals have the opportunity to receive information and counseling regarding the implications of adoption or other transfer of custody that addresses:

  1. types of available adoption and guardianship services, and the range of openness in adoption;
  2. parents’ legal rights and the rights termination process;
  3. financial assistance that may be available;
  4. separation from the child, and grief and loss;
  5. long-term implications of the decision; and
  6. making plans for the immediate future.

PS 6.06

 

Individuals have the opportunity to receive information and counseling regarding the implications of termination that addresses:

  1. attitudes toward pregnancy termination, including personal religious beliefs;
  2. emotional issues related to grief and loss, and the finality of the decision;
  3. types of procedures available;
  4. costs of the procedure; and
  5. legal issues for minors (such as parental notification, parental consent, and judicial bypass), if applicable.
NA The organization provides only Birth Options Counseling.

PS 6.07

 
Individuals are helped to carry out their decisions about the pregnancy and obtain any other needed services, directly or by referral.
Interpretation: Individuals may need prenatal care, parent education, adoption services, or termination services to carry out their decisions about the pregnancy. Other needed services can include, but are not limited to, health, educational, vocational, and housing services. Organizations that offer only Birth Options Counseling, and thus do not provide linkages to termination services, should disclose this fact to service recipients, as referenced in PS 6.01.

PS 6.08

 

To help individuals stay healthy and prevent subsequent unintended pregnancies, the organization:

  1. provides information and education about the prevention and treatment of diseases, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases;
  2. provides information and education about pregnancy prevention, pregnancy planning, and the spacing of children; and
  3. links individuals to family planning services.
Interpretation: An organization that does not provide linkages to family planning services when doing so is counter to its mission or beliefs should disclose this fact to service recipients.
Note: When an organization does not provide linkages to family planning services because doing so is counter to its mission or beliefs, practice could include providing individuals with a comprehensive list of other community providers that offer pregnancy support and education services.
Note: See Research Note to PS 7.04.
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PURPOSE: Individuals who participate in Pregnancy Support Services learn about parenthood, make informed decisions about their pregnancies, stay healthy, and pursue their educational and vocational goals.
 
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