Our message is simple
when parents separate, children should not
Who We Are
Partnering to build a world where the best interests of children are upheld through equal shared parenting.
Every child thrives when they are loved, guided, protected, and supported by both parents. At Put Children First, we believe that a child’s identity, confidence, and emotional security are strengthened when mothers and fathers remain actively involved in their lives. Both parents are not optional. They are essential. Together, they form the foundation upon which children grow, heal, and flourish.
When families experience separation or transition, children should never be the ones to bear the loss. Put Children First exists to ensure that decisions made during these moments remain centered on the child’s best interests. We advocate for shared parenting, cooperation, and child-centered solutions that preserve meaningful relationships with both parents.
Passion Statement
We exist to promote, equip, strengthen, restore and empower parents in the shared responsibilities of been equally active in the lives of their children.
Our Core Beliefs
- We believe that children need both voices. They benefit from having access to both parents.
- We believe that in the absence of abuse, neglect or abandonment, children are best served and supported when they have both parents equally present in their lives. They thrive growing up loving equally and equally loved by both parents.
- We believe that a presumption of equal shared parenting at divorce makes a level playing field between the parents with respect to parenting time and responsibility at the moment of separation.
- We believe that children who have equal and meaningful contact with two fit parents are:
- Less likely to drop out of school
- Less likely to run away from home
- Less likely to become pregnant or have an abortion
- Less likely to commit suicide
- Less likely to seek or create an abusive relationship
- Less likely to commit crimes and be incarcerated at some point
- Less likely to turn to drugs or alcohol
- We believe that children are treated as prizes to be worn in family courts rather than human beings who are entitled to close contact with both parents.
- We believe that children experience diminished self-concept and compromised physical and emotional security:
- Feels abandoned when one parent is fathers not involved in their lives
- Struggles with their emotions
- We believe that children caught up in separation/divorce experience behavioral problems such as:
- Have more difficulties with social adjustment
- Are more likely to report problems with friendships
- Intimidating persona in an attempt to disguise their fears, resentment, anxieties and unhappiness.
- We believe that children caught up in separation/divorce experience poor academic performance:
- Nearly 71% of high school drop-outs are fatherless
- Have more trouble academically (reading, mathematics and thinking skills)
- Likely to leave school at age 16.
- We believe that fatherless children experience delinquency and youth crime:
- Violent crime
- 85% of youth in prison have an absent father.
- Fatherless children are more likely to offend and go to jail.
- We believe that fatherless teen girls become susceptible to exploitation by adult men.
- We believe that fatherless teen girls are:
- More likely to experience problems with sexual health
- Greater likelihood of having intercourse before the age 16
- Greater likelihood of becoming teenage parents.
- Children caught up in separation/divorce are at greater risk of suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
- Recent study reported that preschoolers not living with both of their biological parents are 40 times more likely to be sexually abused.
- We believe that children caught up in separation/divorce are likely to experience mental Health disorders such as anxiety, depression and suicide.
Partners
