Ever since Derick Dillard got fired by TLC after revealing himself to be a bigoted bully on social media, there hasn’t been a whole lot of cash pouring into his bank account.
The problem, you see, is that Jill Duggar quit Counting On in a show of solidarity, which means the Dillard household went from a two-income home to a zero-income home overnight.
And Derick didn’t marry into a wealthy family just to go on punching a clock like some shlub, which means it’s time for Jill start earning.
Fortunately, the mother of two has been paid to practice a skill in the past.
Unfortunately, she may not be qualified to do so and her lack of proper training might be putting lives at risk.
Longtime fans of the Duggar clan will recall that Jill has worked as a midwife intermittently over the years.
They might also recall that there’s an ongoing debate as to whether or not Jill is properly trained and licensed for such work.
Whatever the case, Jill is back at it.
She revealed this week that she’s launched her own midwife service called Labor Sit, and it seems the new venture is already off to a rousing start.
Jill posted the above photo yesterday, along with a caption reading:
“Got to help deliver this chunker the other day! Sam helped me #laborsit then napped like a champ when the time came!”
First of all, did Jill just body-shame that baby?!
(We kid, no need to call us snowflakes in the comments.)
But more importantly, is Jill qualified to even work as a midwife’s assistant, much less run her own midwife service?
The answer, as In Touch Weekly points out, is a matter of intense debate amongst Duggar obsessives.
“She is licensed,” one fan asserted on Reddit.
“They even posted a picture of it on their blog when she passed her exam to become a CPM. She went to school for it. They talked about it on the old TV show.”
“She’s not licensed,” another retorted.
“Where you read that you have been misinformed… Also, how do you presume she got a degree when her only form of education is Bill Gothard’s ATI curriculum at Michelle Duggar’s kitchen table?”
The photo in question does show Jill holding a Certified Professional Midwife’s license, but the situation is still not as cut and dried as it seems.
As many fans have noted, Jill has only been granted a CPM competency certificate, which is different from a Certified Nurse Midwife license, generally considered the standard in her field.
That distinction requires a Bachelor’s degree, one year of nursing experience, and three years in a nurse-midwifery program – none of which has Jill obtained.
In addition to the controversy over Jill’s licensing, there’s some skepticism over the training she received early on in her career.
Jill’s earliest experiences as a midwife came under the tutelage of a woman named Venessa Giron.
Giron had her license revoked in 2015 following a botched delivery and subsequent lawsuit that also prompted her to move to a new state in order to continue practicing.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit was a new mom named Tiffany Nance who claims she nearly died during her delivery, and Giron refused to dial 911 despite the fact that a life was clearly in danger.
Jill reportedly assisted with the birth, but we’re guessing she decided to leave that particular incident off her resumé.
Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.
