About

Doulas Care© is a 501c3 non-profit organization working to improve maternal and infant health outcomes and reduce health disparities by matching qualified volunteer doulas with pregnant women and adolescents who have limited resources.  Qualifying low-income women receive these services for free.  We also offer affordable birth services for $350 and postpartum services on a sliding scale for families outside the range of our free services.  As special mentors, doulas provide educational, emotional, physical, and logistical support to women and their families. Doulas Care also helps the volunteers by providing the opportunity to gain hands-on experience soon after training and opens a professional pathway in the field of maternal and infant health.

The Doulas Care program began in 1999 initially as a grass roots program which later became grant funded as a charitable program of the Center for the Childbearing Year.  In January 2008 the Doulas Care program became an independent 501(c)3 organization while its former parent organization became a for profit business now known as Center for the Childbearing Year LLC (www.center4cby.com).

Doulas Care has maintained its focus and mission throughout its history, which is to provide childbearing women and their families with well qualified volunteer Doulas who provide support and education to promote empowerment during the childbearing year, optimal birth outcomes and a positive transition to parenting.  Our program services include free volunteer Doulas who provide prenatal, birth and post partum support to low income families who qualify based on financial need.  We also provide a Birth Doulas program for a reduced set fee for families who may not otherwise qualify by their income levels for free services and offer Post Partum Doula services using a sliding scale fee model to promote access for women of all income levels to this much needed service.  You can find out more information about these programs by emailing info@doulascare.org

Currently our program has over 50 volunteers who work with childbearing women and their families throughout Southeastern Michigan.   In 2010, we provided services to 210 families as a result of generous grant funding from the Knight Foundation and donations and gifts in kind from a very supportive community of partner organizations, businesses and individuals. The majority of our services are concentrated in the Washtenaw, Wayne and Oakland Counties but we have reached into nine other counties as well. 

In February 2009, we joined in alliance with the Lamaze Family Center (www.lamazefamilycenter.org) to promote access for more families to Normal Birth and the opportunity to have Doula support if  they desire it.  Through this alliance we now have access to new office space which is pictured below.  We are jointly promoting  our mutual goals for childbearing families and look forward to programming opportunities between our two organizations.

We will also have added a ”Dial a Doula” program as the result of a generous donation to the University of Michigan on our behalf from Rachel Bendit and Mark Bernstein of Ann Arbor. This program provides Doulas who are on call for women and their families who come to Women’s Hospital Birth Center at University of Michigan and who desire a Doula.  While continunity from the prenatal period to the post partum period is not provided, this program serves families who may not have anticipated a need for a Doula until they presented in labor.

As we expand our services and continue to grow in our as an organization, we look forward to working with other organizations and professionals who serve childbearing women and their families.

About

• Board of Directors
• Meet the Staff
• Our Funders
• Our Mission, Values and Vision
• What is a doula?
  • Birth Doulas
  • Comments from Doulas Care Clients
  • Doula Training and Education
  • Postpartum Doulas