Children's Aid Society was organized in 1890 to provide homes for orphaned children. Since then we have had the same mission -
To improve the quality of for children and their families.
We are a private non-profit agency governed by a volunteer board of directors.
We are a member of the Clearfield County Collaboration Board, which works on Communities That Care prevention strategies.

The agency participates in the

• Health and Human Services Council
• Early Care & Education Committee
• Community/School Partnership
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pennsylvania
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
• SWAN (Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network)
• PACCA (Pennsylvania Association of Child Care Agencies)
• and three United Ways.

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Licenses us as a Day Care Center, Adoption Agency, Foster Care and Private Children and Youth Serving Agency.

An Early History of the Children's Home And Children's Aid Society of Clearfield County

The Children's Aid Society was organized in October, 1890 as the first child welfare agency in Clearfield County. The Society was created to place children in carefully selected suitable homes and prevent these orphaned children from spending their young lives in the Poor House. Visiting homes throughout the county was challenging in horse and buggy days, especially in bad weather. As the number of children increased, a Children's Home seemed to be the best solution.

In 1917, benefactors Asbury W. Lee and John Wrigley anonymously built the Children's Home for the Society. The Home was called the Mystery House while being constructed, as no one knew the builders or its purpose. The building was presented to the Society in July, 1918 with the stipulation that it always serve children, and it was named the Children's Home.

The first use of the building was as an emergency hospital in 1918 during a flu epidemic of several months (at the request of the Board of Health.) The first regular residents of the Children's Home moved in during May, 1919, with Miss Grace Hoyt, and later Miss Mary Pope as matrons.

Several auxiliaries of Children's Aid Society were organized in Ansonville, Clearfield, Coalport, Curwensville, DuBois, Kerrmoor, Mahaffey, Osceola, Smithmill, and Winburne. The auxiliaries were helpful in fundraising, investigating homes, and visiting and keeping in touch with children placed in their communities. Finances were always challenging. Tag days, special drives, and bequests brought in help as needed to purchase bonds. In the early 1950's the last of the bonds had been sold, and the agency bank balance was down to $75. The public was notified, and with no organized solicitation, $7500 was raised.

The Home often had forty or more children in residence and 20 or more in foster or adoptive homes. There were many adoptions over the years. Many boys were placed in Girard College or Hershey School, and many girls were placed in Carson College or the Indiana Industrial School for Girls. Many of these children spent their vacations at the Children's Home. In the first 50 years, approximately 1140 children were under the Society's care.

By 1979, the agency recognized the need to provide smaller bedrooms and to keep the boys on the 2nd floor, and add a 3rd floor for the girls. This major project was completed in 1980. Shortly afterwards, there was a national movement to move children from orphanages to foster homes, and by 1983, the children in the home had been moved to other homes. (The agency built a small residence for special needs children, which was later taken on by Goodwill, then bought by Bethphage.)

The board of directors faced the challenging decision of whether or not to dissolve Children's Aid Society. We are grateful that they had the courage and foresight to continue. Naturally, the first interest was to become a formal Adoption Agency and help find loving families for children in need. A formal license application was submitted in 1985, and the first adoption happened in 1986. Currently the agency provides home studies for families in fourteen counties for private, special needs, and international adoption.

In 1986, the agency was approached by Partners With Youth of DuBois and asked to assume the program. They converted the program to Big Brothers Big Sisters in 1991, and have added 3 types of mentoring: School-Based Mentoring, Community-Based, and Education Works.

In 1989, a child care program was begun for children from birth through kindergarten age. In 1996 a school-age program was begun and moved to the 3rd floor in 1997. The administration building at 1008 S. Second Street was purchased and renovated in 1996 and occupied in January, 1997.

Family-based programs we have offered over the years include Nurturing, started in 1995, and FAST (Families and Schools Together) started in 2000. Collaboration with Head Start of Cen-Clear Child Services in 2001 called for the expansion of one classroom, as well as provision of child care before and after Head Start in DuBois, Houtzdale, Woodland, and Philipsburg.

This 2001 renovation project was designed to make the former Children's Home building work more functionally as a Child Care Center. Each classroom now has more creative centers, more storage, and an adjoining bathroom for the children's use. The plumbing, heating, wiring, air conditioning, and sprinkler system were extensively upgraded to bring the building to current codes and standards. The walls were re-painted, new flooring was installed, and the former children's closets were removed. The kitchen and pantry areas were modernized.

During the latest renovation project, it was noted that the workmanship was exemplary -the building was constructed to last a long time. The exterior walls are three bricks thick. Interior walls in the hallways were two bricks thick, covered with plaster. When removing very heavy fireplace inserts, workers found extensive support in the basement to hold the weight.

In 2005 our Child Care building received a much needed roof renovation project and we are constantly upgrading our play yards and equipment. In 2005 a heavy snow resulted in the loss of several beautiful trees from our landscaping.

We are grateful to the long line of board members and staff for the love, care, and commitment they have shown to children for over 100 years. The community has been supportive, as has the United Way. It is our hope and intention that we can continue to provide quality services for children and families for the next 100 years!