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LDS Family Services is a private nonprofit corporation owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It offers members of the church and others adoption services, marital and family counseling, addiction and drug dependency counseling, general psychotherapy, and counseling and other services to women or girls who are pregnant and unmarried. Birth-parent services are offered to all, regardless of religion, and are free of charge. In 1919 the organization was created as the Relief Society Social Service Department by Amy B. Lyman, an official in the church's Relief Society. In 1969, the organization was renamed Unified Social Services. In 1973, the organization became a corporation separate from the church's Relief Society and renamed LDS Social Services. In 1995, the name was again changed to LDS Family Services. LDS Family Services currently has 62 offices located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Staff must have a minimum of a master's degree in behavioural sciences. The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has clarified the purpose of the adoption services provided at LDS Family Services. They made the following statement in a 1998 letter, “Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by parents who provide love, support, and all the blessings of the gospel. Every effort should be made in helping those who conceive out of wedlock to establish an eternal family relationship. When the probability of a successful marriage is unlikely, unwed parents should be encouraged to place the child for adoption, preferably through LDS [Family] Services” (“Policies and Announcements,” Ensign, Apr. 1999, 80).
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