Italian Home for Children

Italian Home for Children is a Jamaica Plain nonprofit that helps children and families facing emotional, behavioral and educational challenges. It runs residential treatment programs, home and community-based services, and a K-8 school, forming a continuum of care that lets a child take part in several services at once. Its stated aim is to help young people thrive where they live, with mental health as the priority.

The organization was founded in 1919, after the 1918 influenza epidemic left many Italian children in Boston’s North End orphaned; local clergy and community members created the home to care for them. For its first fifty years, Franciscan sisters raised and taught thousands of children there. Over time its mission shifted toward treatment, and today it serves children of all backgrounds, with staff who often help families with housing and attend school IEP meetings.

What to Know

• The home is licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Its programs serve boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 14.
• The main goal is reunifying children with their own or alternative families, or keeping at-risk families together.
• Volunteers, including corporate groups, support its programs.
• The campus recently gained a new playground.