The Cold War

Supporting the Physically and Emotionally Challenged

The onset of the Cold War ushered in a time of fear and insecurity that spurred Catholic Charities to broaden its mental health services, offering psychiatric clinics for children and professional counseling for families. An innovator during a time when children with mental retardation were often sent to institutions and forgotten, Catholic Charities opened the Kennedy Child Study Center in the 1950s. Its programs provided early intervention and special education, taught basic skills and built the foundation for more independent lives. The Guidance Institute pioneered the first day camp for disabled children and the Catholic Guild for the Blind extended counseling services. Astor Home for Children was established in Rhinebeck, NY as a residential treatment center for children with serious emotional disturbances. It later expanded to the Bronx.

In 1958, in a rented East Harlem storefront, a small group of nuns opened a pioneering program, Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services. The menu of services - coordinated case management services, information and referrals, day care and drug abuse counseling - stood as a precursor of community-based services still emulated today.