In September 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released data showing that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. The data was taken from a 2017 to 2019 study managed by Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs) in 36 US States.
More than half (53%) of pregnancy-related deaths occurred between seven days to one year after delivery, with the leading causes of death being: mental health conditions including suicide and overdose (23%), hemorrhage (14%), and cardiac and coronary conditions (13%). Other causes were infection (9%), thrombotic embolism (9%), cardiomyopathy (9%), and hypertension (7%).
This data reveals that it is crucial for expectant mothers to have proper support and healthcare systems in place. Too many mothers lack access to basic parenting resources that can help prevent many of these deaths. The foundational support mothers need from a network of family and friends to stay healthy is often unavailable or out of reach, especially for families living in poverty.
Recently, the CDC expanded its efforts to eliminate preventable pregnancy-related deaths with $2.8 million to support additional Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs) in nine jurisdictions. These Review Committees include representatives from all areas of public health including obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, nursing, midwifery, mental and behavioral health, and patient advocacy groups.
The Parenting Resource Center, a Catholic Guardian donor-supported service, provides expectant mothers with pre- and post-natal care and education, counseling for women in crisis pregnancies, financial assistance, and childcare supplies including cribs and layettes. Mothers and fathers who come to the Parenting Resource Center have access to free parenting classes to gain important skills including self-care during pregnancy, feeding and caring for a newborn, identifying child development milestones, child-proofing their homes, and managing the stress of parenthood.
The CGS Family Counseling & Wellness Center, a donor-supported Catholic Guardian service, is a mental health clinic where mothers and fathers can receive counseling and therapy to help them adjust to parenthood. Mental health conditions including suicide and overdose that new mothers experience can be alleviated.
At Catholic Guardian Services, we value all life and believe there is a direct connection between a person’s success, health, happiness, and the strength of their family unit. Powerful external factors such as unmet healthcare needs, chronic poverty, inadequate housing, and drug epidemics, can create overwhelming challenges for families - particularly those who are vulnerable, marginalized, and impoverished. For more than 130 years, Catholic Guardian Services has championed innovative and compassionate healthcare services for pregnant and parenting women and men. Our approach combines community outreach, education, and healthcare services for New Yorkers of all faiths or no faith at all.
To learn more about the Parenting Resource Center, please visit https://www.catholicguardian.org/child-welfare-family-support-services.
November is National Adoption month, dedicated to raising awareness about the urgent need for foster parents and adoptive parents.
The history of National Adoption Month began in 1976 when Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis announced the first Adoption Week through the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), with the goal of promoting awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in foster care.
Governor Dukakis' idea grew in popularity and in 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Adoption Week dedicated to helping children find safe and loving families. In 1995, under President Bill Clinton, the week was expanded to the entire month of November, to better meet the growing needs of our nation’s children.
At the 37th Annual Child of Peace Awards Celebration on November 17th, Foster Parents & Adoptive Parents are being honored with our Humanitarian Award for providing safe, loving homes for children who have been separated, temporarily or permanently, from their first families. Through our Family Permanency Services, more than 750 children and their families are served annually throughout the New York City area. Some of our foster parents have been with Catholic Guardian for more than thirty years and have fostered more than fifty children over their tenure.
Our foster parents and adoptive parents are highly trained in holistic, trauma-informed approaches to childcare, and volunteer to help raise children who have special medical and behavioral health needs, requiring additional care and assistance. The children within Catholic Guardian’s community of care have experienced significant trauma and removal from their homes. Through the intervention, love, and compassion offered by foster parents and adoptive parents, these children have passionate advocates to empower, advise, and speak for them.
The primary goal at Catholic Guardian is to achieve a permanent home for each child as quickly as possible. Each child’s family is engaged and involved with our staff to develop solutions that enable parents and children to reunite safely, whenever possible. When that is not possible, we collaborate with foster parents to encourage adoption, and with kinship foster parents to facilitate adoption or kinship guardianship.
Foster parents and adoptive parents are quintessential to advancing the mission of Catholic Guardian. They are the unsung and frontline heroes of our community, and they embody love, grace, and dignity. For their selfless love, it is Catholic Guardian’s great privilege to honor foster parents and adoptive parents in November, and throughout the year.
To help Catholic Guardian honor foster parents and adoptive parents, please visit catholicguardian.org/childofpeace .
