Complaint Filing Process

The North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) recognizes that each Certified Professional Midwife will practice according to her/his own conscience, practice guidelines and skills levels. Certified Professional Midwives shall not be prevented from providing individualized care.

When a midwife acts beyond Guidelines for Practice, the midwife must be prepared to give evidence of informed choice. The midwife must also be able to document the process that led the midwife to be able to show that the client was fully informed of the potential negative consequences, as well as the benefits of proceeding outside of practice guidelines.

NARM recognizes its responsibility to protect the integrity and the value of the certification process. This is accomplished through the availability of a grievance mechanism. All Certified Professional Midwives will have the opportunity to speak to any written complaints against them before any action is taken against their certificates.

All NARM Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) are encouraged to attend peer review on the local level.

If a conflict arises between a client and a midwife, a community peer review may discuss the details with the midwife. Mediation may be utilized to reach an acceptable outcome. This is to be done on the most local level possible. If this cannot be achieved to the client's satisfaction and the client wishes to take action against the midwife's certificate, a written complaint must be filed.

The Grievance Mechanism

  1. Complaints must be filed within eighteen months of occurrence.
  2. All complaints shall be kept confidential.
  3. A written complaint to the NARM Board initiates the grievance mechanism.
  4. The NARM Board then refers the complaint to the Accountability Committee.
  5. The Accountability Committee shall appoint a local review committee made up of the midwife's peers (at least two (2) CPMs, one of whom will chair, and one consumer) at the appropriate local level.
  6. Upon receipt of a compliant, the Accountability Committee Chair will respond to the complainant with a letter stating that the complaint has been received and will be heard in review committee within 90 days. The CPM also is notified of this pending action, and, within one week of notification, the CPM must submit to the Accountability Committee a complete copy of the client chart and the CPM's own practice guidelines. The chart is then passed on to the local review committee chairperson. The opposing sides are each invited to supply written or verbal testimony for the review. Written testimony must be sent from witnesses directly to the local committee chair. Copies of all written material are supplied to the local level chairperson for dissemination to 1) the CPM, and 2) review committee members, at least two weeks before the review. The local review committee chair is also responsible for coordinating the details of the review committee meeting time and location and will notify the involved parties at least 30 days in advance.

Complaints should be mailed to:

NARM Accountability
Shannon Anton
PO Box 128
Bristol, VT 05443