COMING IN 2025
Doulas Decolonising 90 Day Co-Care Boost brings together libernatalism and the practice of co-care as part of full spectrum community care. Co-care (community, collective, autonomous abolitionist, redistribution reparations, expansive) is the act of reciprocal sharing within the community. We use the term reciprocal to include all interactions of giving, receiving, reparations, remittance and redistribution both financially and non-financially.
The 90 Day Co-Care Boost is based on the principle of 90 days of postnatal rest and recovery, something we see across many cultures worldwide. This is commonly called the ‘confinement period’ or ‘the first 90 days’ and has significant meaning bringing together pre-medical and community understanding of perinatal needs and medical recommendations for bodies that are growing, transitioning and healing.
Under capitalism, even with ‘maternity leave’ that is an option only for some, there is no break to the financial stress of going through any perinatal journey. For those who do not have support beyond themselves, are subjected to multiple layers of oppression or may not have recourse to public boosts or support, this can be an especially daunting time. We want to try to expand our current community support to also include an element of financial co-care, in the hopes that it may help and also provide further access into our community for those who may otherwise be unable to access even free support due to time/ financial underprivilege.
What we can offer is still unfortunately much more limited than what we wish we could, but it is a start. And we will need full community support to be able to provide it.
How it works
You apply using the same form as the Time Bank.
The Doulas Decolonising Co-Care Boost is £10 x 90 days for a total of £900.
You will receive this as one lump sum of £900 and can spend it however you want with no strings attached. Financial support to cover bills is just as important and can be just as helpful to overall health and wellness as financial support for self-care or supportive therapies – use this however will make you feel most supported with no judgement.
In addition to being granted the Co-Care Boost, you will also receive access to our collective of doulas and the support that we offer. You must participate in utilising some level of doula support, you cannot get the financial boost alone. You can see here some of the doula support we try to offer.
www.doulasdecolonising.noblogs.org/doula-time-bank/
This boost is open to all Black, Brown or other racialised people who are directly affected by, displaced by or diaspora to genocide, colonialism, white supremacy and violence that is or has been supported by Britain at home and worldwide.
You must be currently living in Scotland, Cymru, Éire, England or other areas occupied as the ‘UK’.
You do not need a bank account, we can find alternative ways to provide the funding if needed. We know this can sometimes be a barrier.
We ask you to do a self-assessment as to whether you need to access this boost or if you are able to utilise your privilege in ways that others may not be able to and so may not want to apply for this boost over someone else. We can also offer advice and support in talking people through ways they could use their privilege to access other means of support, ask their financially privileged family and friends for redistribution of wealth and setting up support pods or community projects.
You can apply for this boost as many times as you want, but you will only be able to access it one time. You can access doula support multiple times. Our doula support is open for applications year round, however the boost may not always be open as it is dependent on the amount of money we have in the pot.
Once you have received the boost, you are considered an active member of our community. This is a personal responsibility that you will self-manage. You are encouraged to reciprocate co-care in whatever ways you can, this could be immediately, whilst you are accessing the boost, or after you’ve received the boost with no time limit or checking. Just an agreement that this is a resource for members of our community, and you as part of that community the same as everyone else will be acting in co-care towards each other. This does not need to be financial, it can be talking to other people about the boost, providing food for other members, creating resources, sharing experiences and knowledge or whatever expansive way you feel like participating within the community. The purpose of the boost is community building and creating safe structures of support and togetherness, not replicating oppressive systems of aid, charity or being a service provider.
We are completely community funded, which means that we do not have any external, state or charity funders. All the money comes directly from members of the community practising financial co-care. You can put money in the pot through the Doulas Decolonising OpenCollective or by contacting Eshe or Ammaarah as collective admins.
www.opencollective.com/doulas-decolonising
We encourage community members to practise personal reparations, redistribution of wealth and co-care. This means that we expect the majority of the funding to come from white community members, as well as those who are class/ financially/ steady income privileged, citizenship privileged and otherwise privileged.