	Pregnancy Support Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-PS 1: Access To Service

Services are provided to individuals who need to obtain prenatal care, prepare for parenthood, and make decisions about pregnancy and parenthood.

PA-PS 1.01

Services are available to individuals without regard to their age or decision to parent the child.

Interpretation: If an agency serves only a sub-group of individuals who may potentially need service (such as expectant parents planning for adoption), ineligible individuals should be referred to another local provider that may be able to meet their needs, as referenced in PA-PS 2.03.

When an agency provides both counseling and direct support services but limits eligibility for direct support to a specific population (such as individuals who decide, during counseling, to plan for adoption), the agency should: (1) ensure that all interested counseling recipients are linked to appropriate services, as referenced in PA-PS 6.07, and (2) demonstrate that it has considered how the limits it places on eligibility for additional services may influence a counseling recipient’s decision-making process.

PA-PS 1.02

The agency collaborates with other providers or conducts community outreach to identify individuals who are potentially in need of service and inform them about the program.

Interpretation: The agency’s outreach materials should provide an accurate description of the services it offers. For example, if an agency offers only Birth Options Counseling, and thus does not provide counseling on termination, its outreach materials should clearly convey this fact to potential service recipients.

Note: See the Note to PA-PS 6 for further discussion of the distinction between Birth Options Counseling and Pregnancy Options Counseling.

Research Note: Although there is a lack of information about the characteristics and motivations of parents who abandon their babies, some literature suggests that these parents have fallen through the cracks of systems of care that exist to protect parents and children, and have not received adequate supports and services. Many states have enacted “Safe Haven” laws that are intended to prevent the unsafe abandonment of infants by allowing distressed parents to give up babies at designated safe locations. However, some literature notes that the effectiveness of these laws is not yet known and suggests that they may have unintended harmful consequences. Some experts suggest that the best approach to preventing unsafe abandonment is to ensure that all expectant parents, including those who may deny or conceal their pregnancies, receive the counseling, supports, and services that can help them make safe, beneficial decisions for their children and themselves.

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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.

RELATED FILES


	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.


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


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


	ELIGIBILITY The degree to which an individual, family, group, or community meets the specific criteria and qualifications required to receive goods, benefits, or services.


	LINKED The means by which individuals access services that may or may not be provided by the organization itself. These terms are used interchangeably when individuals are linked to services either directly or by referral. See also CONNECTED.


	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.


	OUTREACH Contact initiated by a provider to identify persons in need of services, to provide information to them about services and benefits, and to encourage the use of appropriate services.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	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.


	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.


	TERMINATION See CASE CLOSING


	INFANT A child aged one year and under.


	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.