Hannah House FAQ's

I had blogged a few months ago about Hannah House and how God had led me to the ministry. I dont think I have written much about it since. I started working 3 days a week in November when our house opened on November 16 (I think).

Here are some commonly asked questions:

What is Hannah House? A maternity home.

What is a maternity home? A maternity home is a residence for pregnant women with unplanned pregnancies.

How many girls can live at your home? Currently, we have 4 girls at a time. And let me tell you, 4 pregnant girls is plenty!

Do you make them place their baby for adoption? No we do not. We do have an adoption agency we work with called Chosen Child, but we do not coerce them or make them do anything. We give them alot of information on adoption and parenting, we trust God to lead them in the right direction for His will.

Do you make them go to church? Yes. The ministry was vision from God, therefore, all learning materials, our program and staff use scripture to teach the girls. They are told before coming into our program what our rules and expectations are, which they have to sign an agreement to.

What do yall do all day? We are not a shelter or just a place for pregnant girl to live until she gives birth. We are a program. Like I mentioned before, we help them with a plan. We have various classes they go through, such as Life Skills, Parenting, Marriage, Finance, Sewing, GED (if they have not completed it), Birthing. They also attend individual and group counseling as well as weekly Bible Study in addition to going to church and attending a small group at church.  They cook home-cooked meals every night as a family and live as an average family would.

What happens after they have the baby? From the time they enter our program, we help our residents with a plan. This plan usually changes throughout the course of their time here, but we try to help them come into the real world and get out of fantasy land. If they chose to parent, then we have a plan of where they are going once the baby is born. Sometimes this is relatives, another program, friends, their own housing, etc... If they chose to place, they can stay here for up to 6 weeks, or be in our aftercare program (Mary Hannah House) which helps them get a job, go to school, counseling, etc.. After each girl has their baby, no matter their choice of parenting, we have a celebration of life ceremony at the house with a pastor. We are not licensed to have babies in our home.

How can I help? We are a non-profit completely funded by individual and church donations. The only government assistance we allow is for the girls to have Medicaid, since we cannot afford insurance for them. We try to teach the residents about getting off of government assistance. Therefore, we need money.

 When most people hear of maternity home, they want to donate baby stuff. We do not take baby items. There are a few reasons: 1. No room for them 2. We want the residents to really consider the options they have for their child so we would rather wait until the end of their pregnancy before they know what they want to do 3. Not all girls in the program are parenting. We have to be sensitive to all the girls. This does not mean we leave the girls with nothing. Towards the very end, if a girl has decided to parent or place, we do let them pick out some outfits, blankets for the baby. Also, if the mother is parenting and needs baby items such as a crib, car seat, etc...we will send out an email to our local donors and contacts and believe me, we have no problem getting these items.

We do accept maternity clothes donation. Many of our girls come into our program with little or no clothing. We have a closet of clothes that stays at the home, we allow the girls to go through and wear the clothing while they are here.

How can I find out more information? We have a website: www.plministries.org . Also, we do a quarterly newsletter which you can find on our website or if you would like one emailed/mailed to you, you can email me: lydia at plministries.org

I know people usually have alot of questions because maternity home are few and far between. Not because their isnt a need. There is a HUGE need. We are always full. And usually have a waiting list.

I thought I would do this posts too because our first Hannah House baby was born last night or this morning, I guess at 2:14 am!

This is A'Miyah La'Nae! We are so excited and grateful for a healthy baby and mama!