What is Putting Children First?
Putting Children First is a programme designed to help adults build cooperative parenting relationships after divorce or family separation in order to bring about better outcomes for children. It can be used as a stand alone course or as a preliminary process in helping parents reach a facilitated or mediated agreement.

How does it work?
It works by offering parents a safe and boundaried environment in which they can develop understanding and deal with their, often painful, experiences. From this, they are offered new ways of managing the difficult transitions that accompany divorce or separation.

What does it cover?
The programme looks at the impact of separation on parents and children, why conflict occurs and how it can be prevented, the emotional and psychological transitions that arise through separation, building new cooperative parenting relationships and taking positive steps to make the right choices for children.

What underpins it?

Putting Children First is based on the principles of being child focussed, family orientated, gender aware, flexibile and respectful with a commitment to work towards a cooperative parenting relationship that puts the needs of children first.

What does it deliver?
Parents who undertake the Putting Children First programme are helped to reorientate their focus from the ending of their adult, intimate relationship towards building a new business like parenting relationship that is flexible and respectful. Where parents have become entrenched in conflict, it can offer solid foundations and strategies to ensure that their children’s needs are met

As a professional working with families, what will Putting Children First offer me ?
Putting Children First has been designed to work in a number of different settings and to be delivered by people with a range of professional backgrounds and skills.