Child Care
Birth parents sometimes need time after delivery to make a decision about their baby's future - either to parent or to place their child for adoption. Spence-Chapin's interim care program provides a nurturing environment for a baby after discharge from the hospital until a permanent plan is in place.
Time to Make a Confident Decision
This period frees birth parents from pressure and allows them the time to make the best decision for their child. It is important that they feel confident with an adoption decision. Birth parents retain their legal rights while the baby is in care. Care providers, supervised and certified by our child care department, care for the babies in their home for several days or weeks. Birth parents can and do visit their babies during this time.
Interim care provider families
Newborn care is provided by one of our interim care families. We have a number of families who are screened, certified and supervised by Spence-Chapin. Many have been with us for 15 years or longer. Through the years, they have taken care of more than 50 infants each.
Every baby receives individual attention in a warm, caring environment. Our families are dedicated to giving each baby the best possible start in life.
Meet some of the people who make the Interim Care program successful.
John Garwood, MD. - Dr. Garwood has been with Spence-Chapin for ten years and is pediatrician for the program. He is also Director of the Pediatric Development Clinic at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, NY.
Dr. Garwood examines all infants in our care on site after their hospital discharge. The babies receive well baby exams and a final discharge exam on the day they leave to go home with their adoptive or birth parents. He is available when a baby requires medical attention or evaluation before a scheduled exam. In addition, our infant care providers have a local back-up pediatrician.
Dr. Garwood refers infants with special needs to appropriate medical specialists for diagnosis and prognosis. This thoroughness helps us to identify the right adoptive family for a child presenting with serious or challenging needs. It also helps us prepare the birth family for the child's special needs upon going home.
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| Suggested Resources | ||
| Pregnant? Adoption is an Option by Jeanne Warren Lindsay |
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| Out of the Shadows: Birth Fathers' Stories by Mary Marion Mason |
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| Spence-Chapin Pamphlet: Birth Parents' Bill of Rights | ||
Additional Books & Resources |
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