Over 150 Haitian & Latine migrant families seeking asylum are being temporarily housed at the Clarion Hotel in Taunton, Massachusetts. Taunton is a maternity desert, meaning pregnant and birthing migrants are experiencing a public health crisis due to lack of social supports, maternity and postpartum resources, and quality nutrition. As a result, migrants are experiencing increased incidences of depression, high blood pressure, anemia, and gestational diabetes.
BEJMA is working with various organizations in the Massachusetts area to collect donations in the coming weeks.
How you can help
If you are able, please consider purchasing supplies from this Amazon Registry, contributing to the GoFundMe, signing up to volunteer, or bringing the following items to our drop-off locations:
Strollers (infants & toddlers), Baby carriers, Convertible (unexpired) infant car seats, Bassinets/Playpens, Postpartum healing kits, Reusable nursing pads, Nursing bras and postpartum clothes (Small to Extra Large), Infant formulas, Baby wipes/Toilettes, Diapers (Newborn to 7 months)
Current Essential Items Needed: Children's toys and Infant Diapers of all sizes: new born, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Baby food, formula, infant car seats, postpartum nursing clothing, nursing bras), feminine care, clothing for everyone (Men (sock/shirts), women, teens, youth, children, toddlers, infants), food (snacks), water (bottles or gallons).
Please wash any fabrics and ensure items are in excellent condition before dropping off!
Taunton
House of Bread Community Church, 518 Middleboro Ave, Taunton, MA
Saturdays 11-1pm. (Please contact Sara directly for any donation drops off's needed during the week.)
Sara Francois, Donations Coordinator, Email: Sarajf@live.com , Text: (817) 209-8283
Boston
The Lucy Parsons Center, 358 Centre St A, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Saturday, August 12 ONLY, 11am - 3pm
Western Massachusetts
Frost Library (Amherst College), 61 Quadrangle Drive, Amherst, MA 01002
August Hours: 8am - 5pm, After September 5th: 8am - 1am
Over 150 migrant families seeking asylum are being temporarily housed at the Clarion Hotel in Taunton, MA.
Inadequate living conditions and lack of culturally-appropriate and responsive resources & supports are putting their health in immediate risk.
Pregnant and birthing migrants are at an even greater risk due to a lack of social supports, maternity and postpartum supplies, and quality nutrition.
Migrant families need to have access to means necessary for them to care for themselves. These include trauma-informed care, translation and interpretation services, enrichment opportunities, transportation, doula or family support, and opportunities for work
Community members have been mobilizing to fill these gaps. We are calling on elected officials, public health leaders, and community members to work together to ensure the availability of and access to comprehensive and culturally concordant maternal health care for migrants in Taunton.
CONTACT: Taunton Migrant Families Coalition: latonia.tmc@gmail.com
What is going on in Taunton?
Background: May 11 was the final day for the “Title 42” policy, which prohibited the basic right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border for 38 months. The misuse of Title 42 led to the expulsion of 2.8 million migrants, which resulted in family separation and an increase in children crossing the border, which made them increasingly vulnerable to economic exploitation, illegal child labor, violence, and dangerous living conditions.
What happened? Over 150 migrant families -- mostly from Haiti -- including homeless families, have temporarily been placed at the Clarion Hotel. Haitian migrants arrived from Central America and other parts of the U.S. in April in Taunton, MA, an under-resourced sanctuary city that closed its maternity unit in 2018. Taunton is considered a "maternity dessert" - it lacks a maternity unit, maternity care resources, obstetric providers, and community-based reproductive health services.
What are the current conditions? The hotel is over capacity and being fined daily by the city. Migrants have been living in the Clarion Hotel and need permanent stable housing. Collaboration from community members has been essential to fill in the gap in resources and support. Pregnant and birthing individuals and their children require immediate, culturally-appropriate responsive solutions, compassionate care, and support to ensure their health and well-being. Migrants face deteriorating health and living conditions, including a lack of access to culturally-appropriate and trauma-informed care and support, little to no/poor access to food and health care, and accumulated stressors and trauma triggers contributing to unhealthy physical and emotional health outcomes.
What are the barriers to self-sustenance? As they are awaiting approval for work visas, which can take months to process, they lack access to transportation and are missing their legal immigration appointments. Without work authorizations, they are unable to legally work to support their families.
How are pregnant and birthing people impacted?
There are increasing reports of high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, anemia and depression which increases the likelihood of poor maternal health outcomes -- to the extent that a mother has completed suicide. Some leave the hospital without any basic resources such as food, water, and shelter.
They face structural issues to quality reproductive health care. As of May 11, 2023, CDC has lifted COVID-19 restrictions for hospitals, but there are still some hospitals that have chosen to keep those restrictions in place for certain populations. This is an issue for migrant birthing people who need both birth support (i.e. partner, doula, or relative) and interpreters to communicate while receiving care.
Pregnant and parenting migrants are in need of nutrient-dense meals, maternity care and postpartum supplies, and baby supplies. They need practical resources such as diapers, wipes, toiletries, shampoos, socks, housing, and more. Requests have also been made for culturally concordant care, trauma-informed health care, translation services, and providers/midwives/doulas that speak Haitian Creole.
Who is helping?
Community groups and local leaders have been organizing a coordinated, tiered response to address these critical needs as well as to advance political mobilization and raise awareness of this dire human rights issue.
Community-based organizations, birth workers, faith leaders, and birthing equity advocates are showing up and showing out to provide health care services and resources.