TAPROOT COALITION OF PIERCE COUNTY
REACHING UNHOUSED FAMILIES IN PIERCE COUNTY WITH PERINATAL SUPPORT
The barriers are unique.
The risks to unhoused people are already enormous. For those who are pregnant or postpartum, the challenges multiply — and yet, there are too few resources designed to meet their needs.
Imagine this:
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A newborn who must eat every two hours, but no accessible clean water to mix formula or wash bottles.
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A parent desperate to make a medical appointment, but with no shower, no clean clothes, no car seat — and no safe place to leave their belongings behind.
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A mother, just days after a cesarean delivery, discharged not to a home but to a tent or a car — forced to heal and care for her newborn in the sweltering heat of summer or the bitter cold of winter.
There are several programs and organizations ready to assist, but too few ways for parents to access those services.
The risks are great.
Pregnancy while homeless is a crisis with life-altering consequences. For the pregnant person, it means facing steeper steps to care for themselves — and for their baby, it can mean a more fragile start to life.
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The full spectrum of reproductive options are often not made available, preventing people of the ability to choose the path that is best for them.
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Medical outreach rarely centers the realities of pregnant and postpartum people experiencing homelessness, leaving critical gaps in care — for both parent and child.
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Culturally based perinatal resources may be difficult for unhoused people to access
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For babies, the consequences are severe: higher rates of preterm birth, low birthweight, and increased risk NICU admissions.
And this is only the beginning. The barriers pile up, the risks compound, and generations are impacted when we cannot intervene in accessible ways.
Let's work together and ensure low barrier access.
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Pregnancy and STI testing
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Full-spectrum care for pregnant individuals, and support for all outcomes of pregnancy
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Culturally grounded perinatal support
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Access to prenatal and postpartum care, and well-baby care
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Access to health education and skill-building relevant to lived experiences
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And so much more! Let's create together.
About the Coalition
Taproot Coalition was founded by Wilder Kruzan, a perinatal professional working in reproductive justice for 30 years, in Kitsap, Pierce, King and surrounding counties. With connections in the Pierce County outreach community, she realized that there was a lack of connection between clients and resources that are unique to the unhoused community and that will require innovation to resolve.
The mission of the Taproot Coalition is to network perinatal providers serving Pierce County, collaborating to reduce barriers to care for unhoused people. We will accomplish this by connecting an engaged network of providers and organizations that are already serving Pierce County, and implement the means to reach unhoused people in need of perinatal care.
The coalition is supported completely by a private individual, and is not a nonprofit nor fiscally involved with other agencies at this time. The intention is to retain autonomy to ensure that all options can be presented to people in need of care and restrictions to providers are kept low.
The Taproot Coalition meets by Zoom on the first Friday of each month, 12-1pm PT.
We'd love for you to join us!
LET'S BEGIN
Taproot Coalition is gathering community partners who are caring for unhoused neighbors in Pierce County. We monthly via Zoom to better understand the challenges that people are facing to reproductive care while living on the street, and develop strategies to bridge the gaps.
Community partners will be added to the website as they join the coalition to ensure transparency and invite participation as the coalition grows.