Mary Margaret Carr (1917-2004) was born in Birmingham, Alabama, to Bertha Scott (1895-1972) and Bernard F. Carr (1889-1979). She graduated from Birmingham Southern College, after which she worked at the Jefferson County Family Counseling Association. Carr earned her Master of Social Work at Tulane University. Between 1954 and 1956, she worked as a medical social worker and taught at Vanderbilt University Hospital and School of Medicine. In 1967, Carr moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to serve as executive director of what would become the Child Service and Family Counseling Center. In 1981, Carr received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Emory University, and in 1985 Tulane named her Outstanding Alumna for the School of Social Work. Later that year she retired.

In 1964, the Atlanta Child’s Home (previously called the Child Welfare Association, Inc.) merged with the Child Service Association, Inc. to become the Children’s Center of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc. Then in 1969, the Children’s Center of Metropolitan Atlanta merged with Family Counseling Center (Associated Charities) to become Child Services and Family Counseling Center, Inc. Under an Executive Board and Carr's leadership, the Child Service and Family Counseling Center counseled and advocated for families and children, developed programs, provided access to resources such as education and housing, and educated communities on teenage pregnancy and family planning. In 1974, Atlanta Florence Crittenton Services was consolidated as well, and in 1987 the organization became Families First.