OPEN ARMS PERINATAL SERVICES

Community education & engagement: previously some of these activities were conducted through our perinatal collaborative program and further developed in 2024 in response to community needs. Open arms trains local community members to serve their own communities as care specialists in doula support, lactation, and childbirth education. Additionally, we provide lactation lounges and childbirth education classes.

Family support services: family support services provides referrals for all client families to access essential services such as housing, food, jobs, and baby items. Help me grow family connectors, part of king county's innovative model for referrals and support for children, provide culturally matched and individualized support to get connected to the essential services that the whole family needs to thrive.lactation support services: the lactation support services program provides free lactation to program participants. Families are culturally matched with a lactation support peer counselor who provides home-based prenatal lactation education to prepare them for their lactation journey. Families receive support within 24-48 hours of birth and will continue to receive care for the first eight weeks of the postpartum period. Families can also access drop-in lactation lounges for advice in a group setting online or in person.fiscal sponsorships: the organization provides fiscal sponsorship to the equal start community coalition (escc), and in 2024 concluded fiscal sponsorship with the native american women in dialogue on infant mortality (nawdim). The organization maintains variance power over (escc) and therefore recognizes them as a program of the organization.