Around 100.000 women and men sought advice and help in the Catholic pregnancy counseling centers in Germany in 2011. Most women and families would come with financial problems. "There is a lack of sparing room, a financial buffer to cushion the additional needs triggered by the birth of a child," says Caritas consultant Sabine Fahndrich.
As in the previous year, about 1.2 percent of them were in an "existential pregnancy conflict," according to the annual report of the counseling centers of Caritas and Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen (SkF) published by the magazine "neue caritas" (new caritas). This corresponds to 1.182 counseling seekers who consciously sought out a Catholic pregnancy counseling center and are aware that they will not be ied a counseling certificate.
Consultation time has grown
The total number of people seeking advice has thus fallen slightly compared to 2010, while the number of counseling sessions has increased slightly: for the Caritas experts, this is confirmation of the experience that people seeking advice and help over longer periods of time come to the counseling centers with bundles of problems, both during pregnancy and after the birth of the child.
Nationwide, there are 274 pregnancy counseling centers of the Catholic Welfare Association and the SkF at 500 locations. There are 646 counselors working there nationwide. In 2000, the Catholic dioceses, following the Pope's instructions, withdrew from the current state system of pregnancy conflict counseling; since then, they no longer ie counseling certificates.
The profile of Catholic counseling has changed a lot since then – especially when it comes to "existential pregnancy conflicts". Compared to the current 1.2 percent, about 20 percent of those seeking counseling came for conflict counseling prior to 12. Week of Pregnancy.
Early help for young mothers
In the meantime, counselors are focusing more on early help for pregnant women and young mothers, counseling for prenatal diagnosis, sexual education services or social support for young families. In 2011, for example, the number of consultations for prenatal diagnostics increased slightly compared to the previous year: there were 2.684 cases in connection with prenatal diagnostics and 797 cases of counseling when the child is expected to be disabled.
In order to be able to help pregnant women and young mothers quickly, the Caritas Association and 16 Catholic dioceses also launched the "Early Help in Caritas" project in 2010 – and want to expand it further. It bundles all church services for the benefit of young families – from Catholic hospitals to migrant counseling services. The pregnancy counseling centers often serve as hubs in this network.
"Catholic pregnancy counseling primarily reaches people from the so-called poverty milieus," emphasizes Sabine Fahndrich, the Caritas consultant responsible for the project. According to the report, in 2011, about 55.5 percent of the approximately 100.000 people seeking advice who have not completed vocational training. 50.8 percent of those who were available to the labor market were unemployed, 17.4 percent were single parents and 50.24 percent had an immigrant background.
Criticism of the government's social policy
Accordingly, the financial situation of women and families was one of the most frequently mentioned problems in pregnancy counseling. Especially in the phase of starting a family, this group of people has to struggle with great insecurities and existential fears, Caritas emphasizes. Social isolation, possible partnership problems, health risks, and economic problems are all building up against each other.
In this context, Caritas expresses clear criticism of the German government's social policy. For example, since 2011, parental allowance has been counted as income for parents who receive unemployment benefit II, social assistance or child benefit supplement, and thus falls away as an additional cash benefit, the report says. Poor families would be put under additional prere as a result. "There is a lack of sparing space, a lack of financial buffer to cushion the additional needs triggered by the birth of a child."