DOWNLOAD 2009 FAMILIES FIRST REGISTRATION FORM HERE!
**Please note that the Families First seminar is held at EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 629 N. Peak Street, in Dallas.**
FAMILIES FIRST: TRANSPARENTING*
The court-mandated divorce education program Families First was initiated in 1995 by the CAP Center. This course helps divorcing parents address the effects of divorce on their children, and offers children tools to identify and cope with their emotions. Families are referred by the 254th, 255th, 256th, 301st, 302nd, 303rd, and 330th and other district courts. In 2007, 338 adults and 91 children participated in this revolutionary program, which is held at East Dallas Christian Church on a monthly basis.
Families First is a four-hour seminar that helps parents to understand the critical role that they play in their child’s ability to adjust to the changes surrounding divorce. The seminar emphasizes each parent’s responsibility to form a post-divorce relationship that will provide a nurturing, non-threatening environment for the child. While a marriage can end, a family does not. Families First involves both parents and children in concurrent four-hour sessions, focusing on positive parenting during and after a divorce. This seminar allows both the parents and the children to emerge with fewer emotional scars and a better sense of respective places in the family.
At Families First, trained master’s level instructors lead parents in acquainting them with the emotional upheaval that divorce can bring upon their children. Class content focuses on the various dimensions of divorce and its effects on children. Often, parents who are undergoing a divorce are too distraught to address the needs of their children. Families First intervenes to address that gap, with information on age-appropriate reactions to divorce and resources for new family structures.
At Families First, trained facilitators work with children of divorce in small peer groups formed by age. Course curriculum helps children to understand that they are not responsible or “to blame” for the decisions that adults in their lives have made, nor are they able to “fix” the resulting consequences. Children also gain effective communication tools to help them understand and navigate the often stormy and difficult emotions encountered in their own grief process.
*Transparenting, formerly known as “Children Cope with Divorce,” is a national program operating in 39 states and 180 jurisdictions. CAP has been a licensed provider of the program since 1995. http://www.transparenting.com/
2009 Families First Courses
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January 10
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May 9
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September 12
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February 14
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June 13
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October 10
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March 14
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July 11
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November 14
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April 11
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August 8
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December 12
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