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BBC Newsnight Response
CareConfidential has been providing free confidential counselling, support, help and advice for over 20 years, supporting many thousands of people facing an unplanned pregnancy or have had post-abortion concerns.
CareConfidential became an independent charity on 1 July 2011. One of the first actions we are implementing is a full review of quality control, training and support across the Centres. Part of this will include a review of all the published materials, from websites to training manuals, including that for The Journey, where circumstances, thinking and language has moved on in the years since it was published.
The training manuals including Called to Care are being updated and rewritten in language that reflects the diversity of people, of different faiths and none, who will use and benefit from it. Much of this material was originally written over 20 years ago. It is of paramount importance that this material is revised and rewritten and is currently being undertaken in line with The Information Standard sponsored by the Department of Health.
We are working hard, with limited resources, to bring 100 CareConfidential accredited Centres up to a commissionable standard. With our own quality control procedures, we can be sure that every advisor at every Centre is consistently providing unbiased confidential advice and support. This will give all clients time and space to reach a decision that is right in their situation.
It is very regrettable that the person featured in the Newsnight programme received a standard of service well below that required of our affiliated Centres. This is not however the experience of many of the thousands of women who visit the Centres, receive online support or who call the helpline.
The quotes that were given on the programme are taken from a manual that was written in 1994 and is not in current use.
We have already started a programme to thoroughly overhaul all our materials, both for training and publication. In the future we want to be able to assure clients that they can receive a consistent unbiased and confidential service.
Finally, we note that other media have recently sent crisis pregnancy ‘mystery shoppers’ to a range of organisations including the major abortion providers. They reported this week that some of these had been very unsatisfactory experiences.
However, after their visit to a CareConfidential affiliated centre, the comment from the researcher was: 'Although it’s impossible to say whether every CareConfidential counsellor would be as balanced (the organisation is not a member of BACP), it was the first session I left feeling equipped to make my own decision. Had I really been pregnant, I would have considered keeping the baby, without feeling pressured to do so'.
We were disappointed that the Newsnight report did not reflect this media reporting.
For other recent media reports click here to visit our In the News page.
We are not able to refer directly for termination. We offer clients information on all the options and are
well–resourced to provide both immediate and long–term support as necessary, directing
to other agencies as appropriate.
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