Twins and higher-order multiples continue to be born in record numbers in the United States and in countries around the globe. According to the CDC National Center for Health Statistics, between 1980 and 2001, the twin birth rate in the United States has risen 65% (from 18.9 to 31.1 per 1,000 live births) while the rate for triplets and other higher-order multiples has risen close to 400 percent (from 37.0 to 184.0 per 100,000 live births). For the seventh straight year there were a record number of twins born in the U.S. in the year 2002, with 125,134 births of twins recorded.
With this dramatic rise in births of multiples comes many higher risks. Premature births of babies and low birthweights are two factors that can contribute to health problems or even a greater infant mortality risk. In fact, preterm babies account for more than 85 percent of all birth-related complications and mortality.
Approximately nine percent of all singletons are born before the 37th week (preterm), while less than 2 percent are born before week 31 (very preterm). But more than 50 percent of all twins are born before the 37th week and more than 80 percent of all triplets are born that early. More than 20 percent of all twins are born before the 31st week with nearly 10 percent born before week 28. Similarly, less than 1 percent of all singletons weigh less than 1,500 grams at birth (very low birthweight) but nearly 10 percent of all twins fall within that category.
(source: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Healthy Twin Pregnancy, Dr. Gila Leiter, Page 201)
In addition to the basic need of information to assist families expecting multiples during pregnancy, families raising multiples have many other difficulties they will face raising their children than parents of singletons. Kidshealth.org cites the fact that start-up costs (basic essential excluding diapers) for parents raising multiples is between $8,000-$11,000 higher than families raising singletons. There are also studies that show higher stress among families raising twins-or-higher has led to a divorce rate two to three times higher than the average divorce rate.
The need to allow twins to create their own identities, the decision on when and how to separate twins in school, and possible delayed speech development are issues parents of multiples will face. As twins reach their adult years, other factors come into play such as the high costs of sending two-or-more children to college at the same time and the loss that a twin will one day have to experience with the death of his or her twin, the unique and horrible void that they may have to live as a twinless twin.
Twinstuff Outreach is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that has been created to provide support and information to families with twins and higher-order multiples. Twinstuff Outreach expands upon the vast support network of the Twinstuff.com web site to reach twins around the world with additional community programs and assistance.
Through our Twinstuff.com web site we highlight and recognize the amazing achievements, rewards and joys of twins and multiples. And through the generosity of our site visitors and corporate donors, we are now creating assistance efforts that move beyond the web to a much wider audience through Twinstuff Outreach's administering of care programs.
Twinstuff Outreach has partnered with The March of Dimes to discuss the dangers of prematurity with parents-to-be of multiples. You can read more about this program and learn how to schedule a presentation with your local or state parenting club by visiting our Prematurity Campaign page. We've also sponsored dozens of families with multiples in their walks to help raise funds to fight prematurity in the annual March of Dimes WalkAmerica fund-raising effort.
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina which struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, Twinstuff Outreach helped rally families with twins across the United States in an effort to assist displaced individuals from the Hurricane in their efforts to rebuild their lives. Through our office location in a United Way service center in Houston, we turned over thousands of dollars worth of donated items directly to families who had been relocated after their homes were destroyed by Katrina. You can learn more about our efforts in this ongoing program at this URL.
We've managed individual fund-raising campaigns to assist families in need, including dozens of donations of double strollers and $200 Wal-Mart gift cards to families with young twins based in California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Connecticut, Indiana, and Canada. In 2003, we raised $1,000 to help pay funeral costs to a family with sextuplets after the sudden passing of one of their four-year-old sextuplets as well as gifts of a triplet stroller, cribs, high chairs, diapers, and supermarket gift cards to a family who unexpectedly delivered triplets 29 weeks into the mom's pregnancy.
One program we've run each of the last three Holiday seasons has been a free Letters from Santa program for families with multiples. Your tax-deductible contributions allowed parents to sign up to receive letters for their children. We were able to deliver hundreds of letters to twins around the world each of the last two years thanks to the generosity of our web site visitors. Please visit our Letters from Santa page for more details on this unique program.
We'd be happy to mail you a free brochure detailing our various programs. Please send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the address listed below if you would like a brochure. We can also mail out packs of 50 brochures to Parents of Multiples Clubs if you contact us with this request. We are also in the process of developing educational material for classrooms on the types of twins and twin-related issues.
We'll be raising money to support other non-profit organizations geared towards multiples via some special programs in coming years, including the Texas Twin Round-Up. Our future vision includes the creation of educational scholarships for twins and grants and additional financial aid programs for parents of multiples in need.
|
Twinstuff Outreach is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization as recognized by the IRS. We are now accepting secure online donations using credit cards that you can access by clicking the icon shown above. There is no suggested minimum contribution--all donations will be accepted with our gratitude.
Contributions can also be made via checks or money orders made payable to Twinstuff Outreach and sent to the following address:
Twinstuff Outreach
P.O. Box 395
Missouri City, TX 77489
All donations that are up to 50% of the taxpayer's adjusted gross income are fully deductible. Donations of $250-or-more will receive a written acknowledgement from Twinstuff Outreach in January following the end of the calendar year in which the donation was made.
You can also help support Twinstuff now by purchasing twin-related merchandise in our shopping areas. We're also a member of many existing partner fundraising programs, such as UPromise, Escrip and several grocery supermarket chain shopping cards. To receive more information on some of these programs, please click here. You can also submit information on you and your twin or your young twins if you are a parent through our online registry.
We also invite any users of Twinstuff with non-profit or fundraising experience to contact us via email if you would like to help out our organizational efforts. If you have any questions or comments, use our form below to reach us now. |
|
