Children’s Home of York

For 150 years, the Children’s Home of York has been caring for children and families in need. It all began in 1865 when a small group of local philanthropists realized the need to take care of children who were orphaned as the result of the Civil War. That orphanage served the needs of our community for approximately 100 years.

In the 1960s, the orphanage was “scaled back” to allow for the development of new programs that could better meet the changing needs of the day’s children and youth. Nationally, it became widely recognized that large-scale institutional living was not ideal for taking care of children and adolescents in crisis and there was a shift in social services to smaller, group care homes.

In 1969, the Children’s Home opened its first group home. In the early 1970s, the original orphanage was closed and the building eventually demolished. Over time, a series of new residential programs and specialized foster care were opened to meet the specialized needs of the children and youth. Today’s Children’s Home of York is a multi-faceted social service organization that serves our most vulnerable children, youth, and families throughout Pennsylvania.

Our Independent Living programs equip residents with the skills necessary to function to meet our ultimate goal to help prepare young men to successfully live independently and become positive, productive citizens of the community.

In the ten years that our A.N.G.E.L. Center Treatment facility has been in operation, it has helped hundreds of girls ages 13 to 18 begin their process of healing from traumatic events in their young lives. The primary objective is to provide the skills needed to manage the symptoms that cause their mental health issues.

Provides foster care and adoption services

These non-residential programs provide a structured, supportive therapeutic family environment with the goal of helping children in our care secure a permanent, loving, forever family as quickly as possible. This might mean providing services that enable reunification with the biological family or preparation and support into Foster Care or adoption. In cases where children are approaching the age of 18, this might mean helping them transition to independent living

Our BRIDGES Partial Hospitalization program provides a unique school that fuses academic and behavioral health services. One of the frequent casualties in a child’s struggle with mental health issues is their education. In our attempt to assist children in managing their behavioral and emotional state, many of them fall behind their age group educationally. Our Bridges Partial Hospitalization Program targets both the psychiatric needs of children as well as their educational needs.

We expect our evolution to continue as we strive to keep pace with our changing environment. The future Children’s Home will continue to serve children, families, and their communities through unique programs and services and will continue to be flexible in adjusting its services to these changing times.

At the Children’s Home of York, We foster a sense of empowerment – a feeling of purpose, belonging and ability by providing our programs throughout Pennsylvania.