Community-Based Doulas: A Good Investment in the Future
The bond between a parent and child is the primary bond, the foundation for the rest of the child's life. The presence or absence of this bond determines much about the child's resiliency and what kind of adult they will grow up to be. For some, being a parent who enables bonding is a natural gift, often learned from one's own parents. For others it is a real challenge. If our mother was unable to bond with us due, for example, to depression, addiction, narcissism, extreme stress or immaturity, it will be extremely difficult for a bond to develop.
The Doula Story from Stuart Productions on Vimeo.
While not impossible, it is especially challenging for teenage parents to develop bonds with their children. A high percent of them were themselves children of teenage parents and have never experienced appropriate parenting. Eighty percent of teen mothers were already living with the stultifying stresses of poverty long before they became pregnant. Without early and on-going interventions, their early parenthood virtually guarantees that they and their children will remain vulnerable and mired in poverty. Children born to teens have less supportive and stimulating environments, poorer health, lower cognitive development, and worse educational outcomes.
If we as a nation are to break the cycle of poverty, crime and the growing underclass of young people ill equipped to be productive citizens, we need to not only implement effective programs to prevent teen pregnancy, but we must also help those who have already given birth so that they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents.
This is why, a number of years ago, I brought the "Community-Based Doula Program" to Georgia where it has been under the wing of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP).
A doula is a birth assistant who provides emotional and physical support to the mother and her family during labor and delivery. Our doulas, however, go beyond the call of the traditional doula. Many times they take on the role of mother, big sister, friend, counselor, social worker, advocate, life coach and more. The doulas make weekly home visits to pregnant teens and their families starting in the third trimester and up to one year after the birth of their baby. They help young mothers (and often times fathers) understand the birth process, and support them during labor and delivery. So many of these young parents don't know what a real relationship feels like, but through their example, the Doulas model for the mothers and fathers how to be in relationship, how to bond. This is what transforms the young parents forever and gives their babies a better chance in life.
The Community-Base Doula Program has produced some amazing results including c-section rates nearly half the national rate and breastfeeding initiation rates 25% greater than the national average. It's harder to quantify parental bonding, but we listen to what the young mothers in the program have to say. "I don't really have a support system anymore," says one girl, "but I can always call my doula because she still comes around and helps me when I need her."
Another young mother says, "I had a lot of situations when I just wanted to give up. I wanted to give up on school and I wanted to give up on finding the baby's daddy. My doula told me to stick in there. You going to get it. Don't just let it go."
"Don't just let it go." Profound words from a young woman who, under different circumstances, might have given up. When I see the results of our Community-Based Doula Program I know that if a Doula was a medicine, it would be unethical not to provide it. My great hope is that one day every Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in the country will include a Doula Program. Funded through the Department of Agriculture, WIC serves the population of poor, often teen mothers but as currently implemented, WIC only address the nutritional needs of disenfranchised parents. The addition of a Doula component isn't rocket science and it would create jobs for an army of community women who are chronically underemployed, thereby changing their lives along with the lives of the young parents and their children. A Win/Win/Win as I see it. President Obama take heed!
By the way, this isn't some "charity work" we're doing for others. This has a direct effect on every one of us whatever our socio-economic status. Think about it: Reducing crime and poverty and ensuring that we have an educated, stable work force has a direct effect on you and me and the future of our country. And we cannot do any of it without reducing teen pregnancy and the dysfunctional parenting that so often accompanies it.
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You are so wise Jane Fonda. Did not know the statistics. But I gave birth at sixteen. Poor with a non bonding mother. Breast fed...beca
Ms. Fonda, I've loved you since the day I saw you speak so passionately at an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh, PA, with you newly shorn hair. Your passion and your eloquence both exceeded your beauty, which was quite a trick.
Thanks for these words of wisdom. I'm so sorry your own mother wasn't always there to nurture you; how you managed to come through such a difficult childhood with so much insight is another one of your virtues. All the best to you in promoting this program. (Maybe you're due for another visit with Mr. Colbert, if he's gotten over the last one.)
About a decade ago I did an in-depth six month study on mother-infant bonding and how that translates out all the way to lower crime rates. It's something we should not only do for poor families, but for any new family who is not well supported during the birth of a child.
There is a wealth of study on the importance of this very simple thing many of us take for granted: bonding, the ability to bond. From this comes empathy. Perhaps bonding is even at the core of what we know to be the "conscious
But we are already hearing it here, the complaining about spending money so some poor women can have help and support after having a child. Their tax dollars shouldn't be spent on such nonsense. Then they never say a word about the money we spend on prisons and mental health. Sad.
France has a Doula program. I think I saw it in Michael Moore's Sicko. So we should be able to extrapolate some data on the benefits. I hope to see more about this in the future. I really think it is key to lowering crime rate, among other benefits to people as a whole.
"Children born to teens have less supportive and stimulating environments, poorer health, lower cognitive development, and worse educational outcomes."
Not so fast Jane, many young poor teen mothers are very good parents, have good supports and their children turn out just fine. My kids, all three are happy, healthy and exceptionally intelligent adults who are engaged in a productive and positive way in society. I utilized all the supports I could get because I learned the value of self-help many years prior.
I wasn't the only one out there. I was an activist for single parents for a long time and saw many very good parents who worked very hard to give their children a nurturing environment, who valued education and as a result had successful children.
Please Jane, refrain from generalizations that support classist notions that support lack of action or more hatred.
On the other hand, you shouldn't imply that what was fortunately true for yourself and others in your community is the general situation, either.
You are the exception to the rule...no one should ever be encouraging teens to be parents.
Jane Fonda , is a Good Samaritan!
Jesus taught, Lover One Another, especially the Children..
good article. I think that Jane's program and the article writers are missing out on a few key pieces of information.
1) doulas do not do any direct medical care.- many of the folks making comments made the conclusion that doulas deliver babies, we don't. it's not in our scope of practice nor the intent of our profession. c-section rates are typically lower in doula attended birth because when women and their partners are well supported they feel empowered to continue trying non-medical interventions for coping with labor. the less interventions the less likely complications that end in c-sections. the same kind of support increases better breast feeding outcomes because a woman is more likely to work through any roadblocks in breast feeding
2) there is such a thing as a post-partum doula.(the
thank you Jane for reminding us that "we must also help those who have already given birth so that they become effective, nurturing, bonding parents."
-juliaizen
"If you want teens to stop getting pregnant:.
2. Start rewarding them financially, by paying teens who don't get pregnant with government subsidies to pay for college, etc., penalize those who do..."
This method is perfect for creating a class of people with poor education and little hope.
The answer is not to condemn poorly educated single mothers and their children to repeat the cycle.
The answer is to break the cycle.
If we want to end the cycle of poverty, we should give educational assistance to young unwed mothers, if they have the interest and apptitude for such education.
Raising those mothers out of poverty gives their children the best possible chance of being successful.
Of course I am not suggesting that we ignore the very many deserving students who are not burdened by poverty. There needs to be a nurturing place for the least fortunate who want to improve their lots.
Absolutely, address the causes of some children wanting to become pregnant. Clearly, those young girls have problems. Since many of them are repeating the cycle of poverty shown to them by their parents, or in many cases only by their mothers, break the cycle.
Work on those problems to reduce the numbers of children becoming pregnant.
How does rewarding teens for not becoming pregnant create people with poor education and little hope? Of course we have to help poor, unwed, uneducated women who already have children. My point is that, it seems to me, that at some point it became "fashionable" for teens to become pregnant, and that we need to change this kind of thinking. Acquiescing to destructive behavior is not the answer either.
And I suppose the conservatard programs of "abstinence only" which can be translated to "keep the girls shamed, ignorant and entirely responsible" and has been proven to be absolutely useless for stemming teen pregnancy.
Or how about those "faith-based Our tax money effectively went to pay for people to lie to teens and scare them into carrying their pregnancies to term, scare them into not using birth control and guilt them about their bodies and their sexuality. Nowhere in that agenda is anything remotely akin to social services that serve the interests of the client. And for all the breast beating about their existence saving money, not only did they do nothing useful, but they blew my money doing that. How about that?
You people who have not a clue about living in poverty, being a young girl victim of abuse or neglect (which type of girls are at a much higher risk level) should shut your pie-hole.
Ignorance and bigotry like yours has had its day for the last thirty years and now we're in a mess. I worked hard to raise my kids on my own from being a teen parent, only to have you people shame and judge and do nothing to help and now leave me and my children in an absolute economic meltdown.
Go straight to hell and take your 19th century ignorance and superstition with you.
Thanks Jane for the article, keep truth telling.
I think it would be more effective to pay men 18 and over to get vasectomies.
“WIC serves the population of poor, often teen mothers but as currently implemented, WIC only address the nutritional needs of disenfranchised parents.”
Again, consultation with hard data make this idealist vision whither like leaves. WIC, according to its own website, has decreased its financial requirements for entry and has extended its budget such that one has to wonder whether truly addresses the needs of “disenfranchised” parents rather than disingenuous parents.
“It's harder to quantify parental bonding” Isn’t that exactly what Jane was doing in the first paragraphs? Why not try to quantify bonding? I could see why one would not want to, given the fact that her entire thesis rides on whether or to what extent these government-mandated programs enhance lives. Denial of tests shows the weakness of this argument, I hope anyone can see.
Listen "Zack," you will never get pregnant and will never know by being a man the challenges facing young women today. Mothers trying to find a bond with their children when they are unequipped to do so will only cost us as a nation in the long run, i.e. the prison system.
Women taking care of women. Thank you Jane Fonda! For the guys, just butt out. You will never understand.
If you want teens to stop getting pregnant:
1. Stop glorifying pregnancy; we are already overburdened by the 6 billion people on the planet.
2. Start rewarding them financially, by paying teens who don't get pregnant with government subsidies to pay for college, etc., penalize those who do.
3. Educate teens, about the underclass of people (teens), who are socialized to breed, in order to support the corrections, weapons, and other industries, and to provide cannon fodder for wars, in which American children from poor families are used to kill other people's children in other countries, and then come home disabled or in body bags.
-"stop glorifying pregnancy?" I don't get it. Stop thinking that keeping the human race alive is good?
-"reward..
-"overburdened" your theory on overpopulation went out of vogue with Malthus. You ought to study your science before you make statements that rely on it.
I wasn't suggesting extinction, I was just saying that our society would be much better off if many people opted not to reproduce, because they make poor parents. If you are desperate to have a child, there are plenty of children without parents who would love to be adopted. You are already taxed to reward people with whom you disagree. You are paying dearly for the offspring of poor parents who self-medicate, steal, kill other people's families in car accidents, are then incarcerated, or hospitalized. You are paying for legal representation of "parents" who throw their children in dumpsters, in toilets. You are living in a country that has been bankrupted by a gang of thieves who got us into an illegal, illegitamate war, in order to enrich themselves and their cronies. And yes, I think that the planet has more than enough people it is struggling to provide for.
-"stop glorifying pregnancy?" I don't get it. Stop thinking that keeping the human race alive is good?
No one is saying to stop glorifying pregnancy.
There is a certain glorification of pregnancy and having children beyond simple "continuation" in the US. Do people really need to have as many kids as a certain couple whose family now has its own reality show which they were given for no other reason than that mama's such a baby factory? It's not like there's high infant mortality here and they need to ensure they'll have surviving heirs. Yet there's a segment of the population that gushes over these selfish dolts.
How about the teenage girls who were in the news a few years back for making a pregnancy pact? They thought it would be cool to all have babies together. Why???
Or look at the whole maternity/baby industry that thrives on baby worship. Buy all these cute but unnecessary goods to show the world your "precious angel" is more precious than everyone else's.
(Then again, we have way too much unnecessary, overproduced consumerist crap marketed for every age level in this country, and kids spoiled rotten at every age)
Look at other cultures in the world. While they believe a pregnancy can be a wonderful and even sacred thing, do you really see the same kinds of attitudes, on the same scale if at all, as exist here?
Overpopulation is at the core of every malaise we face.
Do you really believe the exponential population explosion is necessary to keep the "human race alive"? Where is your science? Even Tom Friedman is catching on--
Totally agree. I live in a mostly poor rural area and those who need it the least have developed a culture of Teen pregnancy acceptability. Having worked with them, I have come to realize that money is the only motivator in this social group. Remember the lady I believe in Chicago who paid Welfare women to be sterilized after having several children and proved successful till pro-lifers put the pressure on through the ACLU and had to be abandoned.
I live in a similar area (where Napa meets Deliverance), and there is no doubt that the benefits, both in terms of health care, as well as the financial support, and a culture of teen pregnancy, all contribute to this problem. We don't simply have to accept this; we can change it, by teaching different cultural values. When personal freedom impinges on the freedom of others, its gone too far.
I worked for almost 25 years with women and children who had suffered abuse, both physical and sexual, and I left that work because it was so often about social control. What I most often heard among my coworkers reflected their need for an us-them dichotomy, a projection of our own inadequacies onto poor people or victims. When I saw the subject of this blog, I had no idea what "doulas" were, but when I read the blog, I felt, for the first time in many years, hope. My only worry would be the effect of people who oversaw the programs, the social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists who are usually hired to supervise the regular people who want to help these mothers. I think our only hope for the kind of teaching and sharing that is possible in a new society is to throw out all the old forms. The way we've been training people in the so-called helping professions is antithetical to human and spiritual growth.
jane you are one of my heroes.
you stood up many years ago while others waved the american flag and said love america or leave it not realizing the love for country that is needed for one to stand up against the status quo.
yesterday someone passed who later in life realized he had made a terrible mistake by helping to create that conflict.
all the media mentioned how many americans were lost in that conflict
no media that I watched mentioned how many of the "other side" were lost due to the conflict.
until we americans see and acknowledge how many were lost total we will continue to have these wars for profits.
we are a society in trouble but in that trouble one hopes we will learn vauable lessons.
thank you for your service to your country. few will understand this previous statement.
loved georgia rules.
God bless jane fonda. I suspect more than you realize Jane.
Alright!
Jane, continually vilified for fighting against a corrupt and morally debauched war, you are MY hero, too...
BTW: I was suppose to see you in 32 Variations, but my brother-in-law died, so I missed out...my friend who went said you were fabulous..
doulas and midwives are absolutely necessary to ensure a positive labor and delivery.
i wanted a midwife simply because it felt it was the most natural way to go and had been the traditional practice for thousands of years. sometime in the previous century men took over ob/gyn duties and thrust their chauvinistic beliefs onto their patients. women with too much information and power are scary ..... in the 50s my mother and all her friends were told NOT to breastfeed because of the fabulous new advances in formula (and acknowlegding at breasts as anything other than sexual is just icky). they looked on in horror as their generation of daughters whipped out the best nutrition on earth for their babies.
i don't know about the rest of the country, but here in sunny southern california women often plan for a c section and book the procedure in advance. stunning how they would risk major surgery over the beauty of a natural, unmedicated, vaginal birth. spending their entire pregnancy in fear? we would not be made to reproduce this way if the process could not be endured.
to any young childless women reading this - please educate yourselves while you are pregnant, look forward to your babies birth and your ability to get through it with strength, breath and the beautiful will you have inside you right now - you can do anything.
Doulas are truly essential care for women and most especially young first time mothers.
Research shows that having a doula during birth reduces the number of c-sections and increases breastfeeding rates. What a great program G-CAPP has to help young mothers get a good positive start in life with their babies, learning to bond, breastfeed and parent.
Of course, Jane is right--preventing teen pregnancies should be our top priority. And suppor to parenting teens is essential for the health and well-being of their children and society.
Kudos to Jane and G-CAPP
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