Children’s Home Society of Washington has helped provide children with strong families, loving stable homes, and their best chance for happiness and success.
We provide a comprehensive network of care to 39,000 children and families each year that builds nurturing and stable families; fosters effective parenting; improves school readiness; develops social and emotional competence; and works to keep children safe and secure.
Please join us as we continue to make a difference in the lives of Washington’s children and families!
Children’s Home Society of Washington has been a champion for children since its founding by Reverend H.D. Brown and his wife, Libbie Beach Brown, in 1896. The Browns arrived in the Northwest in the fall of 1895, newly married and armed with missionary zeal, meager resources, and conviction that children belonged in homes, not institutions. The Society’s original mission was to find a “home for every child” as an alternative to orphanages.
“…this institution is not enclosed in walls of brick, stone, wood, or iron, but is well established and is growing rapidly, and will endure forever, because it is built in the hearts of the people.”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1889
In 1889, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described the Browns’ work as an “invisible orphanage in Washington … this institution is not enclosed in walls of brick, stone, wood, or iron, but is well established and is growing rapidly, and will endure forever, because it is built in the hearts of the people.” Since its incorporation in 1896, CHSW has continually evolved in response to changing needs of children and families. In the last 50 years, the Society has evolved dramatically from the state’s premier adoption agency, credited with having placed more than 25,000 children in secure, loving homes.
In the 1970s and 80s, the Society developed into a leading children’s service provider of residential and group care for troubled children. In the 1990s and into the 21st century, the Society has been recognized as a multi-service organization providing a range of family support and therapeutic services, including early childhood education, child and family counseling, out-of-home care, adoption, and advocacy. A nationally recognized and accredited agency, the Society has received local, national, and international praise for its capacity to evolve and adapt, in concert with a strong commitment to vision and mission. This, coupled with a legacy of outstanding professional and volunteer stewardship, accounts for the Society’s continued viability and relevance after a century of service to children and families.
