Family Planning Council
Family Planning is a body of members who are concerned with providing Family Planning Services to the citizens of the particular region or country. Australian Council of Natural Family Planning is one such Family Planning Council. The council provides natural methods to plan the family and control birth of the child. Australian Council of Natural Family Planning is concerned with natural family planning methods and is the pioneer in this field. Council advises the couples to avoid pregnancy by knowing their states of the body. The methods used by the council are:
The council has the objective to train people for the above two methods of family planning. These trained people then become teachers who advice the couples on avoiding pregnancy by using natural methods. The teachers who are selected for training need to fit certain criteria as set by the council. Many churches in Australia support the council. The council is funded by Commonwealth Department for Health and Ageing. The administration of the council is taken care by Natural Family Planning Program Board.
The services provided by the Council include avoiding and achieving pregnancy. The first method of avoiding the pregnancy naturally is the Symptothermal Method in which the couple observes the cyclical changes in their body. The symptoms of pregnancy are change cervical mucus and structure and also the basal body temperature. These symptoms indicate when the couple is fertile and they can accordingly decide whether they want to have a child or not. If they do not want the child then they have to avoid having sex during that period.
The other service provided by the Council is advice on breast-feeding. The method they advice is Lactational Amenorrhoea. The other services included advice on childcare after birth, advice on mother’s health and living style. The council also advices on the diet the mother and child should have pre-pregnancy as well as post-pregnancy. The council has has a privacy policy according to which the patients privacy is maintained. This policy is to be followed by the teachers who advice the couples.