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. 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.

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.