Essay of the Month " Conscious Parenting In Real Life," By Liberty Liscomb Read Essay >

What We Believe See what FCLCT families live for. Our Mission >		Book of the Month "Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves" by Naomi Aldort. More about the book >		Featured Speaker Pam Leo, author of "Connection Parenting" Hear the Lecture >

Welcome to Families for Conscious Living Connecticut

In September 1996, on the advice of their midwife, five homebirthing mothers gathered in Kidsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia for an informal meeting to discuss how to connect the community interested in natural birth and health care with each other for education and support. The group called themselves Peninsula Families for Natural Birth and Health (PenFam for short) and began monthly informational/support meetings and the publication of a bi-monthly newsletter. Supporters of the organization actively contributed on a volunteer basis (and still do) to the research, writing, editing, and production of the newsletter. Initially, meetings were held on the first Monday morning of the month at the James City County Library in Toano, Virginia. In the summer of 1998, weekly daytime meetings in Newport News Park were instituted and still continue today with the Peninsula Support Group (weather permitting). In November 1998 "PenFam" was awarded its 501(C)3 nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service. In May 2000, we changed our name to reflect our broadening work to Families for Natural Living. Since that time, FNL has worked to help families find the resources they need to make informed parenting choices, cultivated the support for these choices through national and local online groups and local community groups, and networked with sister organizations.

Our Connecticut chapter originally began as the Yahoo group “Friendly Forest,” started by Amanda Steyer and Robin Johnson in 2003. Its goal was to organize families around social playgroups and online discussion of attachment parenting. Amanda, along with Liberty Liscomb updated the group to a vBulletin format and affiliated it with FNL, becoming an official chapter of Families for Natural Living in July of 2006. Our group has grown quickly into a large support system for well over one hundred families who choose conscious, compassionate parenting and informed natural living choices. The primary purpose of the group is to provide a social outlet (both electronic and physical) for both our children and ourselves by maintaining an open group gathering at least once a month and facilitating the formation of local playgroups and support through the use of this site. We encourage people to register as members who are truly interested in bettering their own lives and the lives of their families by having open and honest dialogue about all facets of natural living and a commitment to building a nurturing community both on-line, in the greater New England region, and in their local cities, counties and villages.

We welcome you to explore our site and become a part of our community. If you think you belong here, whether to support our community or just to learn more, then you probably do… Join us!