I appreciated Mary Renard's well-thought out reply about the donor milk and
the foster mother's desire to obtain donor milk for her foster baby.  Mary
is right about the legal risks.  However perhaps there might be some
strategies she can use if she has a real donor lined up.  The foster mom
might consider seeing if her pediatrician would be willing to sign-off on
the idea of human milk feeds so the soc. serv. agency would consent in
principle if the safety issues could be worked out.  It is impt. to do this
because ethically and legally speaking, the soc. serv. agency has become the
"parent" of the baby and has the right to consent and the obligation to
over-see the baby's safety.  (And don't get me started about how often soc.
serv. agencies fall down on far simpler safety issues than this, because we
are speaking in PRINCIPLE).

 Then, if the donor mother is willing, have her get the same type blood
tests as someone donating to a milk bank.  In other words, screen her for
the diseases of concern.  She should also be drug free, non-smoking.  Then,
it is possible to purchase a small home pasteruizer.  I know this because I
saw such a situation in Austin,  After the screening came back ok, the donor
and recipient mothers got together and did up batches of milk in the
pasteurizer.  So in essence, the mothers followed milk banking guide lines
to provide a baby with human milk who would not have been eligible to
receive donor milk otherwise.  This is a lot of work, and my guess is the
steps will seem too complex for most people to follow, but it would
demonstrate a good faith effort to make sure the milk is safe for the baby.
Which is the whole point.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas
http://www.jump.net/~bwc/lactnews.html

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