CAM is soliciting interested members to participate in an exciting new campaign: The California Birth Trust.

The Birth Trust is a fledgling idea that will become a grassroots fund to provide midwifery services to MediCal eligible women.

You may be aware of California midwives’ ongoing battle to bill MediCal. The Licensed Midwife Practice Act explicitly states that LMs are to be MediCal providers. Yet 15 years after its passage, we have yet to penetrate the regulatory monolith that is MediCal. Many midwives are distressed by this situation, because we never intended to limit midwifery services to those who can afford to pay. All women, regardless of income, deserve the right to birth in the setting and with the practitioners they choose.

Efforts to remedy this situation through the regulatory system have so far failed. Do we need to wait for permission from the state to provide midwifery care to those families that, because of economic circumstances, may be most in need of the extra compassion, attention and love that midwives bring? The answer is NO!

We can create our own system for providing homebirth access to low income women. Midwives in the Bay Area have invented a working model they call The Birth Bank. Birth Bank recipients pay the midwife 25% of her fee while the midwife agrees to reduce her fee by 25%. The Birth Bank provides the difference. Recipients are asked to repay one half of their loan the following year by holding a midwifery related public education event. Recipients can be linked together to design these fundraisers, building connections among mothers while sustaining the fund and spreading the word about midwifery care.

CAM is just beginning to explore options for the California Birth Trust, the statewide version of that fund. It may closely follow the Bay Area model, or it may deviate significantly. As word begins to spread, most midwives are incredibly enthusiastic about this project. It is an opportunity to take back our power, to provide far more women with homebirth access, and to empower our clients as they give back to the community.

We would like to know if this interest and enthusiasm extends across the state. We need a Chairperson and passionate women to be members of the committee that will define this campaign, create the guidelines for fund distribution and spearhead the fundraising activities. If this idea inspires you, join with us to manifest this dream.

To be on the California Birth Trust Committee, please contact Jenni Silverstein at (707) 267-5267 or by email at liveoak707@sbcglobal.net.

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Birth Trust