Maternity Waiting Home, Postpartum Home is a shelter for waiting to give birth and recovering after childbirth. Women with unplanned pregnancies who decide to continue their pregnancy can enter the service system of the maternity waiting home. It is an option to have the opportunity to review and find the causes that occurred, to use as a lesson for future life. It provides an opportunity to assess the factors that will allow the child to grow up with quality, such as evaluating one’s own potential in raising a child, assessing readiness to perform the role of a single mother, assessing the readiness and acceptance of the family and community towards the child, through counseling both before and after childbirth, to escape from confusion and self-punishment from what happened.
In addition to counseling, activities during the stay at the maternity home are important because activities help enhance self-worth and discover one’s potential, which will help in living life better after leaving the home.
Currently, the number of maternity waiting homes in Thailand is insufficient to meet the demand. Moreover, many places still have issues regarding the quality of service provision, environment, and capacity-building activities, as well as personnel with an understanding attitude towards the problems.