Choices in Childbirth
Victoria Macioce-Stumpf
Childbirth Educator, Birth and Postpartum Doula, Birth Activist
Victoria has been a Birth and Postpartum Doula since 1990, and was certified through CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association) and DONA International.
Victoria has been teaching childbirth classes since 1991, when she became certified through the Association for Shared Childbirth in East Lansing, MI. In 1993, she also became an ICEA-certified Childbirth Educator through the International Childbirth Education Association and has had two articles published in the ICEA JOURNAL, a quarterly periodical.
Victoria is the current Consumer Advocacy Coordinator of ImprovingBirth. The mission of ImprovingBirth is to inform, support, engage and empower consumers, community leaders and providers with the tools to improve birth.
ImprovingBirth creates tools that help inform about current and best practices. We support those who have experienced a difficult or an unnecessarily traumatizing birth with tools for healing. We engage at a local level through chapters and community outreach and we empower through accountability tools and storytelling. We offer resources for consumers, birth professionals and providers to share with their community, family and friends so that they might prevent unnecessary stress and trauma from happening to another family.
As of November 1, 2016, Improving Birth merged with BirthNetwork National, a national grassroots chapter organization, and the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), best known for the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI). The MCFI was the nation’s first and only consensus document which defines the ten specific steps a maternity care provider or birthing facility can take to provide evidence-based, mother- and baby-centered maternity care.
ImprovingBirth is training birth advocates to engage deeply with the families, providers and hospitals in their areas, through our Community Advocate Training Program. Finally, ImprovingBirth will bring the principles of the MFCI to life with our future Mother-Friendly Provider Designation and the Mother-Friendly Hospital Certification Program nationwide.
Victoria is the former Chair of the Leadership Team (board) of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) after first serving as the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the CIMS' Leadership Team for three years. Victoria has also served on the CIMS Forum Planning Committee for the past several years as well, helping to plan and implement the 2010 CIMS Forum in Austin, TX, the 2011 CIMS Forum in Chapel Hill, NC and the 2013 CIMS Forum in Kansas City, MO. In April, 2014, Victoria hosted the 2014 CIMS Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. with 19 different birth and breastfeeding organizations participating in the gathering.
Victoria is a Past-President of BirthNetwork National. The mission of BirthNetwork National is to promote the awareness and availability of Mother-Friendly maternity care, as defined by CIMS' Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) . BirthNetwork National fulfills this mission through the creation of chapters throughout the United States. These chapters are run by local birth activists that work to inspire and empower birthing families within their community by becoming a resource for information, confidence and support for mother-friendly maternity care as they explore their birthing options.
