About CAPERS

CAPERS Bookstore was established in 1987 as a mail order business, but also offering conferences and seminars. For many years, we offered shopfront access in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast, but no longer do so. The business moved from the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in January 2008 to inner-city Melbourne, where it is now owned and managed by Sarah, Jan’s daughter.
 
Jan originally trained as an accountant, but during her first pregnancy, she was drawn to consumer advocacy and support groups and from 1975, Jan started to work voluntarily for local, national and international support groups.
 
From 1979-1988, Jan was International Coordinator, then International Director for the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA), with its headquarters in Minneapolis, USA. Seeing the benefits of networking, sharing resources and speaker tours, Jan decided to start a business and settled on the acronym, CAPERS, Childbirth And Parenting Education Resources & Services, but the business has always been known as CAPERS.
 
In 1992, we started an Australian journal, Birth Issues. Our target audience included midwives, childbirth educators and lactation consultants, and for many years, Birth Issues was the only peer-reviewed journal in Australia and New Zealand with this particular focus. Birth Issues was indexed by CINAHL and the Australasian Medical Index (AMI), and articles are now available through www.informit.com.au In December 2006, after 15 years' publication, the difficult decision was made to cease publication.
 
Since 1976, Jan has organised many tours and conferences, the most recent in 2008, with Michel Odent, James McKenna, Alison Barrett and Carol Bartle. Michel Odent first toured with Jan in 1985, after the family had visited Michel in Pithiviers, France, in 1984. Other speakers participating in major conferences or tours have included: Janet Balaskas, Sheila Kitzinger, Tom Hale, Lawrence Gartner, Teri Shilling, Gabrielle Palmer, Rukhsana Haider, Marshall Klaus, Jean Sutton, Pauline Scott, Murray Enkin, Karen Guilliland, Charles Mahan, Penny Simkin, Diony Young, Ruth Lubic, Chloe Fisher, Nils Bergman, Jack Newman, Sandra Lang, Howard Chilton, Mary Lantry, Jan Roberts and Lisa Amir.
 

Since 2006, Carol Bartle has presented the popular 2-day Breastfeeding Update and Ethics in Lactation Seminars. For many years, CAPERS offered annual IBLCE Examination Preparation and other breastfeeding education with Mary Lantry and Angela Smith (and Ruth Worgan in the initial stages).
 
Teri Shilling has presented regular workshops for childbirth educators, midwives and doulas for CAPERS. Our 2-day labour support workshop with Teri is recognised as a prerequisite for certification through DONA International, the organization offering the most respected international certification for doulas.
 
In the last few years, we have expanded our list to include a wonderful selection of children's books, most of the MILK range of books, magnets, bookmarks and cards and fun jewellery. We have an interest in quality children's books, heightened by the presence of Jan’s three grandchildren, Emily, Georgia and Zoe. Their photographs have been used on catalogues, conference brochures and the website. It was the birth of their father, Scott, in 1975, that led her down this path.
 
In January 2008, ownership of CAPERS transferred to Sarah, although Jan will continue to be involved in the organization of conferences and seminars. Sarah has a Masters in Gender and Development (focusing on maternal health in developing countries) from Melbourne University and is a freelance researcher. She has always been actively involved in CAPERS, as well as working in other bookstores and in research roles, and is looking forward to new challenges in managing CAPERS.
 
Sarah & Jan Cornfoot, CAPERS Bookstore