Nonbiological moms: Have you attended prenatal genetic counseling as part of your pregnant partner’s care? Help people to better understand your experience and how best to support other two-mom couples going through the process.
Jennifer Gay, a graduate student in genetic counseling at the University of Maryland, is conducting a survey of nonbio (“social”) mothers (or prospective mothers) who have participated in genetic counseling sessions with a pregnant partner. Genetic counseling, the CDC tells us, is the process by which people “learn about genetic conditions, find out their chances of being affected by or having a child or other family member with a genetic condition, and make informed decisions about testing and treatment.”
Gay wants to explore what this experience is like for nonbio moms, in order to “create an overall picture of the social mother’s experience in prenatal genetic counseling, and to inform suggestions for genetic counselors to help them better understand and serve this population.” I think this is a great idea for deepening our knowledge of a little-explored area and improving the quality of care.
The online survey is anonymous, and should take 10 to 15 minutes. At the end, participants will have the option to be contacted to participate in a brief, confidential phone interview to further describe their experiences—but that’s not mandatory.
Any questions, contact the primary researcher, Jennifer Gay, via e-mail at jennifer.gay@som.umaryland.edu, or the University of Maryland Master’s in Genetic Counseling Program Director, Shannan Delany-Dixon, at sdelany@som.umaryland.edu.
I hope some of you will participate!
Perhaps the plight of non-bio moms and their children will someday warrant its own category and lots of type on blogs and webpages like this one. The deafening silence by the community and its organizations is sickening. LAMBDA Legal doesn’t even have accurate numbers of families torn apart by bio-moms.
I agree more needs to be done to raise awareness about the plight of non-bio moms and their children. I have been covering these issues regularly since the very early days of this blog–and I know you’ve commented here before about them. Certainly we need to keep bringing these stories into the public eye and advocating for change.