How It All Came Together

Here’s how it all came together. After I graduated from college as a certified teacher and public health educator, I began working with teens. Though I loved working with this age group, I quickly realized that I was too late on the chain. I was coming into their lives after so much damage had been done. The teens I was working with had so many problems: alcohol and other drugs, their home life, promiscuity and poor education.

I quickly realized that I needed and wanted to start earlier, with the parents. My thinking was that if I could help people become better parents they would raise better children. My parents did a great job teaching me what it takes to create a strong family. I felt confident that with my training and personal experience I could help others. This is when I developed a true passion for prenatal and early childhood education. CFA was developed with this in mind.

Childbearing Family Alliance, Inc, abbreviated CFA, was incorporated in 1981 by its founder, Riekie Urlich Alles. Riekie spent many busy years raising her children, working as a nurse and later as a certified social worker. She also had a thriving Lamaze^® childbirth education practice in St. James, New York.

In 1990, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Riekie at a local chapter meeting of Lamaze instructors. I was new to the area, pregnant with my second child and a new Lamaze Instructor. Riekie very graciously took me in under her wing and I started teaching classes at CFA part time. I learned so much from this truly amazing woman as I worked closely with her until she announced her very early retirement in 1992. Riekie and her husband, Dick, decided to relocate to upstate New York to be closer to their children and grandchildren. They continue to enjoy all life has to offer!

In 1992, I took over CFA and moved the business from St. James to Smithtown, New York. My husband, Jim, and I worked together raising our children, getting CFA organized, profitable and solidly establish the organization as a leader in the field.

At this time we clearly defined CFA’s mission:

Our purpose— our mission— is to empower families so they can more effectively be stable and secure sources of health, well being and fun.

Further, as a professional team, our purpose is to provide quality programs, community referrals and an opportunity for parents to network. This allows our clients to enhance and to support with certainty their families’ health and well being.

We take pride in the partnerships we form with our clients to accomplish our combined objectives. We honor these partnerships as the foundation for the service we provide and depend on them for our mutual growth.

Since 1992, CFA continues to grow. My husband and our children have always been and continue to be a vital part of this company. In addition to our family, we have gone from a staff of four to twenty-two. We are now in two offices nearly six times the size of our original facility. Our programs and services have expanded in leaps and bounds. All this making it possible for us to help many more families become strong, secure and stable.

CFA boasts an extraordinary Team of experienced and dedicated professionals and programs for parents-to-be, new parents and families. The programs and services provided are many as you can see from this website. We have hundreds of families come to our facility ready to play, learn and grow.

As a Team, we are more effective, efficient, and certain of who we are and what we do. Each day I listen to new ideas and watch these new ideas become reality. Programs are written, executed and completed effectively and smoothly. Statistics continue to rise. Surveys indicate high client satisfaction. Sure we have problems from time to time. We are certainly not problem free, but any problems that do arise can be handled with confidence, sensitivity and as a team.

Working with this extraordinary group, sharing a common purpose creates an energy that pulls us together. This brings new abilities, new confidence, new ideas and tremendous joy. I rest easy at night knowing that we have done something to help, something that truly makes a difference.

Children ARE our future! Happy, confident children and parents build stronger families. These families CAN and WILL create a better world, a brighter future.

Thank you for your time and your support. And once again, welcome!

Be Well, Mary

*Key To Abbreviations: BS - Bachelor of Science Degree, MA - Master of Arts Degree, LCCE - Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, BSS - Breastfeeding Support Specialist, FACCE - Fellow in the American College of Childbirth Educators

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