Hello Everyone,


This is my first time posting although I have been reading LactNet for the
past 3 years and was mentioned in a post by Rachel Myr earlier this year
after I had the amazing opportunity to meet her and her lovely daughter and
granddaughter while living in Norway. Now I am back in the United States and
I have a couple of questions, mainly for the CLCs and LLLLs out there. I've
been pondering these things for awhile and finally, yesterday it dawned on
me that I could ask all of you for help and advice.


Here are my questions with a bit of background info about my particular
situation:


1. For CLCs in the United States, what sort of liability insurance do you
recommend and is there a standard waiver and liability release form that you
use and could share with me? Or, do any of you know of a lawyer that could
help me craft my own liability waiver? What type of lawyer should I look
for?


Background: I got my CLC certification 2 years ago from The Center for
Breastfeeding through The Healthy Children Project . Since I took the course
I have been excited to start volunteering in the area of lactation
counseling but have been afraid to start until I learn more about liability
insurance - I also got distracted for awhile when I got pregnant and then
our family moved to a new state and I had a new baby to care for... Now my
daughter is almost 10 months and I'm excited to start helping other moms.
Normally I wouldn't be nearly as concerned about the liability issue but my
husband has received a substantial inheritance and I hate the idea that
something I do could cause a lawsuit that could wipe out what he has
received from his family. Because of that, I want to make sure that I really
know my stuff and that I have a very good liability insurance policy and
liability release waiver.


2. With my CLC training, do you have any recommendations for ways I can get
involved helping moms?


Background: I am in the early stages of becoming a LLLL but it seems to be
taking awhile to get started on the process. Also, I'd love to do more
one-on-one in person counseling. I checked with our local WIC office but
they didn't seem to have a way to use me. Currently I have a 10 month old
with me and I don't want to get a paying job at this time. Could I host free
drop in hours at my house for breastfeeding pairs with questions or who want
a counseling session? I'm not sure what is appropriate with my level of
training. I'm on a mother's facebook forum for our city and I am amazed at
the number of breastfeeding questions that come up. I'd love to be able to
do more to help but I feel like I don't know where to start. I would love to
become an IBCLC someday but I think I'll wait to do the extra training until
my nursing days are over. It is a bit sad to think that someday I won't have
a lovely little baby nursing anymore though.


3. For LLLLs: A friend and I would both like to become LLL leaders. I have
just started researching the process in the last 2 months but I learned this
morning that my friend has been trying to get started for over 6 months.
Sadly she hasn't been able to find anyone to help her despite her many
attempts to reach out to our local leaders and the main organization. It
seems like the several local leaders are all very busy. We now have one
leader who we are trying to find a time to meet with but it has been very
hard to coordinate schedules. Was the process to become a leader as
challenging for you? Is the organization going through some changes right
now that make it harder to become a leader? We would both love to be able to
help other moms but it feels like an uphill battle to get started.


Thank you so much for any advice that you have! I love reading LactNet and I
have learned so much from it. Thank you all so much!


Sincerely,

Elizabeth Packard, BA, CLC

[log in to unmask]

Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.

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