Mission
Italian Home for Children provides an integrated network of powerful and effective programs to help children and families with emotional, behavioral, and educational challenges thrive in their communities.
Vision
We strive to be a diverse, inclusive, and compassionate community champion that empowers children, adults, and families with mental health and educational struggles through therapeutic, collaborative, and transformative programming.
Values
We are #TEAMIHC
Transformative: We positively change the lives of the youth and families we serve.
Empowering: We empower youth and families to advocate for themselves and their needs, enabling them to live healthy and fulfilling lives.
Adaptable: Each child and family has unique backgrounds, strengths, and needs. We adjust to our clients' needs and revise as new challenges arise.
Mindful: We stay aware of our clients' needs, emotions, and strengths.
Integrated: We work as a team. Our continuum of care allows for a child to be enrolled in multiple services aimed at strengthening and bettering every aspect of their lives.
Hopeful: We optimistically push forward for a world that puts mental health first and where every child feels safe.
Compassionate: We remain sympathetic towards our clients and go above and beyond to support them. From finding adequate housing to attending IEP meetings at school, our staff often serve beyond the typical model of services to best support our youth and families.
History
The devastating influenza epidemic of 1918 orphaned many Italian children of Boston's North End, and the community and clergy responded by establishing the Italian Home for Children to care for these orphans. During the first fifty years, Franciscan sisters devoted their lives to raising and teaching thousands of children at the Home.
As decades passed, the needs of the children arriving at the Home began to reflect more complex crises. Today, the Home's focus is providing residential and day treatment services for children of all nationalities with emotional and behavioral needs.
Licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Home provides a comprehensive network of services to boys and girls with emotional challenges between the ages of 4 and 14. All of the services provided by the Italian Home for Children are directed toward our primary goal: the reunification of the children with their own or alternative families and/or the preservation of families at risk.