SAN DIEGO, Nov. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Improving Birth, the nation’s largest maternity care consumer advocacy organization announces they are joining forces with BirthNetwork National, a national grassroots chapter organization, and the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), best known for the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI). The MFCI was the nation’s first and only consensus document which defines the ten specific steps a maternity care provider or birthing facility can take to provide evidence-based, mother-and baby-centered maternity care. As of November 1, 2016, all three organizations will exist under the expanded banner of Improving Birth.

By expanding and merging forces with established nonprofits, Improving Birth lays the groundwork to become a powerful, change-making national organization. The new direction for the organization will focus on training birth advocates to engage deeply with the families, providers and hospitals in their areas, through a Community Advocate Training Program. The organization also intends to promote principles of the MFCI to life with the Mother-Friendly Provider Designation and the Mother-Friendly Hospital Certification Program nationwide, making this distinction meaningful and sought-after.

Dawn Thompson, founder and president of Improving Birth says, “We’re incredibly excited about broadening and deepening our work here in the United States. We will continue to shed light on pressing issues that affect maternity care like evidence-based are, obstetric violence, informed consent, access to midwifery care, access to vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), and racial and economic disparities, while helping local communities make the changes that best work for their own populations.” She adds, “Our goal is not to advocate for a certain kind of birth, birth location, or provider, but to support women, families, and their decisions, including how, where, and with whom they give birth. It’s about ensuring that all people have access to the best birth for them. This includes options, information, and most of all—respect. “

For more information on Improving Birth, contact admin@ImprovingBirth.org.

ImprovingBirth is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) consumer advocacy organization working to improve the maternity care system by offering tools that inform, support, engage and empower the consumer to get in the driver’s seat of their childbirth experience and put pressure on the maternity care system to improve. For more information, visit www.ImprovingBirth.org. Download the Press Kit at bit.ly/ImprovingBirthPressKit.

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SOURCE Improving Birth