CHICAGO CHILD CARE SOCIETY HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1849 - Founded by Chicago's most prominent civic leaders, then named Chicago Orphan Asylum, CCCS opens its doors to children whose parents succumbed in the cholera epidemic on Wells Street between Van Buren and Harrison streets.
1853 - The Chicago Orphan Asylum builds a new home on two acres at 73 Michigan Avenue.
1856 - The Agency hires its first teacher and begins schooling children.
1860 - During the Civil War, the term "soldier's child" becomes a typical notation in Asylum records.
1870 - The Chicago Orphan Asylum adopts the policy of accepting destitute children without regard to race, religion or nationality. This policy continues to this day.
1871 - During the Great Chicago Fire, the Chicago Orphan Asylum opens its parlors for clothing distribution to those who flee their burning homes in nightclothes.
1882 - The Asylum establishes a school within the agency that includes Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary grade levels "after the manner of the public schools".
1900 - The Agency moves to 5120 South Park Avenue and houses children in small cottages with a caretaker to create a "real family" atmosphere.
1931 - With only 13 children in residence, the agency mores away from institutional care and relocates to 4911 Lake Park Avenue which houses offices, ten beds and a small hospital.
1933 - Placement of children in permanent homes through adoption begins.
1938 - A foster care experiment starts with 17 children placed in private homes. By 1949, there were 100 children in the program, many as a result of work with unmarried mothers.
1949 - The Agency celebrates its 100th Anniversary and changes its name to Chicago Child Care Society (CCCS) to more accurately reflect their services.
1951 - CCCS establishes a Research Department to measure children's progress in foster care homes.
1957 - The agency takes over the Hyde Park Nursery for its Day Care Center. It is later renamed The Child and Family Development Center.
1963 - CCCS moves into its current home at 5467 S. University Avenue in Hyde Park.
1964 - Family Counseling services begin, first as part of the Day Care Center, then as a separate and growing sector of its total programs.
1966 - Building on policy of placing children across religious lines, transracial and single parent adoptions begin.
1967 - The Men's Board and Women's Board are merged and a formalized Research Department with a full-time research director is created.
1970 - CCCS releases a landmark transracial adoption study, which finds that transracial adoptions do not negatively impact the child.
1975 - CCCS celebrates 125th Anniversary and publishes "Children of Circumstance" history.
1991 - CCCS programs receive The Chicago Community Trust's 1991 James Brown Ford IV Annual Award of Excellence for Outstanding Community Service.
1999 - In its Sesquicentennial year, CCCS launches a major fundraising campaign to support a broad network of programs and alliances that will continue to change children's lives.
2000 - CCCS achieved re-accreditation status in December of 2000 from the Council on Accreditation for Child and Family Services.
2001 - CCCS begins serving homeless children in the Child and Family Development Center.
2004 - CCCS assumes the "Next Step" Program from the Junior League of Chicago. The program is a mentoring Program for Junior & Senior High School young ladies who are parenting one child. The program's objective is for the young ladies to graduate from college or a vocational training program. The collaboration with the Junior League also includes collaboration with the SSA Department of the University of Chicago who will design the mentoring component of the program as well as assist with program outcomes.
2007 - The Child and Family Development Center installs a new, state of the art playground, courtesy of a grant from KaBOOM! and Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, with matching funds from the University of Chicago. KaBOOM is a national non-profit that brings children, business and community together to create outdoor spaces in areas of need.
