About Us

The history of the Children 1st Program

Our Story

Children First began in 1988 in St. Clair County, Illinois to address the problem of large numbers of families returning to court after divorces were legally finalized.Unfortunately, families seemed to be stuck in the same old patterns of conflict.

The children of these families were continually subjected to court appearances, as well as the everyday burden of being aware that their family was not healing from the divorce.

The original goal of Children First has not changed. This goal is to provide information and tools to parents to make the divorce process and its related transitions as smooth as possible for the children involved. Children need to know without a doubt that their well-being is your top priority. This is why the program is named “Children First.”