History
Child Development Institute was officially formed in April, 2004, through the merger of Earlscourt Child and Family Centre and The Crèche Child and Family Centre in Toronto. The two "legacy" organizations each have a proud history of helping children and families and addressing community needs for over 90 years.
Read The Toronto Star article on Child Development Institute's launch
The Crèche Child and Family Centre was established in 1909 by a group from the Anglican Church headed by Gertrude Tate and Mary E. Burton. Since the beginning, The Crèche focused its efforts on the early years of childhood. Serving children aged 0-6 and their families, our first permanent facility was built in 1913 and still stands today on Euclid Avenue in downtown Toronto (a complete redesign and renovation took place in the late 1980s with the assistance of The Rotary Club of Toronto). The agency was founded by a group who were committed to addressing the growing needs for the care and supervision of young children in working families. The Crèche was one of Toronto's pioneering daycare centres and played a pivotal role in the early development and formation of child care services. Other programs in the early days included employment programs for women, a well-baby clinic and a children's milk program.
In the 1920's and 1930's, The Crèche developed a strong interest in the psychology of early childhood and hired some of the first mental health professionals. This interest gradually became the focal point for the agency and in 1958 it became a centre for autism and other early childhood developmental and mental health disorders.
With this experience, The Crèche developed into a full service multi-disciplinary agency in the 1970's providing clinical services and day treatment for young children, and incorporating a growing emphasis on family work and community-based service provision. During the 1980's, The Crèche also developed increasing expertise in the treatment of childhood sexual abuse.
In the 1990s, our focus broadened to include services to address family violence and we developed a number of prevention programs to augment our early intervention services. We added mutual aid and group models to our service philosophy and continued to reach out to families in the community. Throughout our history, The Crèche made it a priority to provide responsive service to a diverse population by incorporating a range of accessible, neighborhood-based programming. We also added a number of programs and services in support of healthy child development and family support including three licensed child care centres and several family support programs.
Earlscourt was founded in 1913 as Earlscourt Children's Home by Rev. Peter Bryce, opening its doors as a day care centre at 1729 Dufferin Street and moving to its present location at 46 St. Clair Gardens in1918. Earlscourt maintained links with the United Church of Canada until 1979.
The "Home" was a haven for children unable to remain at home due to dire family circumstances. Hattie Inkpen served as the Home's Superintendent and substitute mother for hundreds of children from 1913 until 1948 when she retired. Upon founding Earlscourt, Rev. Bryce approached a service club of young women known as the Wimodausis Club. They provided both hands-on volunteers to help look after the children as well as volunteers to help raise funds. Successive generations of Wimodausis women raised millions of dollars for Earlscourt over the last century mostly through the Toronto Antique Show held annually between 1954 and 1996.
In 1957 our large centre hall home was replaced with a modern facility. By the early 1970's Earlscourt was recognized as a children's mental health centre and received operational funding from the Ontario government. Serving families of children aged 6-12 (and beyond), Earlscourt changed its name to Earlscourt Child and Family Centre in 1979 in recognition of a diversification to non-residential services. In 1982, Earlscourt launched Camp Wimodausis, the first Toronto day camp specifically designed for children whose behaviour and poverty would prevent them from attending other day camps. This was followed by the establishment of the Under 12 Outreach Project in 1985 which became the only sustained intervention in North America for children under 12 in conflict with the law. In 1996, the Girls Connection, formed with philanthropic support from the community, became the first ever intervention specifically designed for young girls with severe behavioural problems. In 2001, the Centre for Children Committing Offences was established to promote nationally and internationally the dissemination of our findings, model interventions and specific techniques, such as SNAP® (Stop Now And Plan) that helps children slow down and think about the consequences of their behaviour.
Building on this rich history and experience, Child Development Institute is a multi-service organization providing a range of supportive services to children 0-12 and their families. We have a strong commitment to responding to the unique needs of the clients and communities we serve and to continuous service improvement through program evaluation, research and training. Child Development Institute is a member agency of the United Way of Greater Toronto and our government-funded Early Intervention programs are accredited by Children's Mental Health Ontario. A number of programs within our Early Intervention Services and Healthy Child Development Services are licensed by the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto. Child Development Institute receives funding from several levels of government, United Way of Greater Toronto, foundations, service clubs, employee groups, corporations, individuals, and through parent fees in our child care services. All of our programs are focused on strengthening families and promoting healthy child development.