FROM THE HEART:  
NEWS FROM KIDS FIRST   |   February 2016


Greetings Friends & Supporters,
  

This February, Kids First is happy to be offering a great new Evening Workshop about Fostering Secure Attachments With Your Children During Divorce.  We all feel bonded with our children, but divorce is a stressful time for kids and extra care is needed to keep them feeling safe and secure. Prevent damage by learning about childhood brain development and attachment patterns and discover helpful ways to mitigate the negative impact of divorce and separation on our kids. This workshop is open to parents as well as professionals in the field.
 
In addition, February brings our Kids First Program for Stepparents for anyone who is part of a blending family. Are you dating or partnered with someone who has kids? Do you have kids and you're with someone who doesn't? Or perhaps you BOTH have kids...the point is, lines blur when our relationships take us beyond that original nuclear family, and our responsibilities to ourselves, our partners and our children become more complicated. Join us for this excellent workshop on expectations and meeting the needs of parents, kids, and partners working it out in step-families.
 
Hope you see lots of you at the Center this month!


Sincerely,

Peg Libby
Executive Director

IN THIS ISSUE
Peg Libby Honored with John W. Ballou Award
CALENDAR: February 2016


QUICK LINKS:







Peg Libby Honored with
Prestigious
John W. Ballou Award


PORTLAND, Maine - The Maine State Bar Association has honored Peg Libby, Executive Director of the Kids First Center, with their most prestigious recognition, thJohn W. Ballou Award, on January 22nd at Sable Oaks in South Portland.  The Ballou Award honors a Maine resident or native son or daughter who demonstrates qualities in keeping with the aims and purposes of the Maine State Bar Association and who exemplifies the example set by John Ballou, a highly respected Bangor lawyer and founding father of the Board of Overseers of the Bar.
 
Peg has served as the Executive Director of The Kids First Center, a non-profit agency that focuses on helping children and parents cope with the effects of separation and divorce, since its founding in 1998.  Peg came to the Center with many years' experience in both fundraising and early childhood education, and a passion for helping families in need.  "This is such a well-deserved honor for Peg!" says Kimberly Kump, Board Chair of Kids First.  "She has devoted nearly twenty years to serving Maine's families by growing the Center to what it is today and is truly THE FACE of Kids First." Under Peg's stewardship, Kids First's program offerings have multiplied and their annual revenue has grown tremendously; the percentage of the agency budget dedicated to funding direct service programs has consistently been 70% or greater.  The agency's four-hour co-parenting education class has become the standard on which the legal and mental health systems of Maine rely for its consistent messaging, practical information and wide availability.  Peg has overseen the development of many other programs at Kids First geared toward helping families, including support groups for kids, programming for separating same sex couples, for step parents, for women leaving abusive relationships and for parents entrenched in high conflict separations.  Professional education for the legal and mental health sectors who work with these families in transition has also been a major priority for Peg and the Center, and many workshops throughout the year, as well as an annual all-day conference, are dedicated to filling this need.
 
Peg is also a member of the Northern New England Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Family Law Advisory Commission and the AFCC (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts). She lives in Portland with her husband and has one grown child who lives and works in Boston.


FEBRUARY 2016  |  CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Feb. 6 - Portland (207-761-2709) Saturday
Feb. 6 - Augusta (207-859-1514) Saturday
Feb. 13 - Biddeford (207-761-2709) Saturday
Feb. 13 - Belfast (207-338-2200 x109) Saturday
Feb. 13 - Lewiston (207-783-3990) Saturday
Feb. 18 - Portland  (207-761-2709) Thursday  

Similar Programs:  
Feb. 6 - Rockland (207-596-0359) Saturday
Feb. 13 - Bangor (207-942- 8200) Saturday
Feb. 20 - Ellsworth (207-942- 8200) Saturday
Feb. 27 - Wiscasset (207-596-0359) Saturday
 

Feb. 13 - Portland (207-761-2709) Saturday

Tuesday, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
February 2, 2016

FREE EVENING WORKSHOP:
(For parents & professionals - CEUs available) 
Monday, February 8, 2016 - 7:00 - 8:30 pm



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CONTACT INFORMATION  |  QUICK LINKS


ADDRESS:  Kids First Center, 222 St. John. Street, Suite 101, Portland, Maine 04102
PHONE:  207-761-2709     FAX:  207-780-0059                                      
EMAIL:  [email protected]      









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