Founded in New York City by the Sisters of Charity on the belief that all children deserve to grow up in loving and stable environments, in 2019 the New York Foundling celebrated its 150th anniversary. Its history includes foster care and adoption, day care for pre-school children of working mothers, and even the medical procedure being used today with severe cases of COVID-19 – intubation. See the NY Foundling timeline of accomplishments.
When the sisters opened their doors in 1869 it was to children abandoned on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Now, the organization offers services in Rockland, Westchester, Putnam and Orange Counties, as well as Puerto Rico. View a map of Foundling locations.
The Foundling offers a comprehensive range of services to children and families, including those focused on developmental disabilities and those aimed at juvenile and criminal justice. There’s also a suite of services focused on education, like Mott Haven Charter School, which is open to the general public but prioritizes children from families involved in the child welfare system, and Camp Felix, which provides a sleep-away summer camp experience for children involved in the child welfare system or in any of the Foundling’s programs. And of course, here at the Healthy Brain Network we’re really inspired by all the amazing mental and behavioral health services and child welfare services offered by the Foundling. To make it easier to compare the Foundling’s mental health and child welfare services, check out the service comparison chart we made based on information on the Foundling’s website.
In 2019, the same year that the Healthy Brain Network Harlem office opened, the New York Foundling opened their 
Home of Integrated Behavioral Health on 115th Street in East Harlem. The clinic delivers evaluations and evidence-based mental health services to families with children ages 18 and younger from East Harlem and surrounding communities. Staff at the center focus on trauma-based therapy to address a variety of challenges ranging from academic concerns to violence and aggression.
It also houses the Communities That Care initiative – an evidence-based methodology supported by the University of Washington that is designed to empower community stakeholders and decision makers to address the problems specific to their community. The Foundling has taken a leadership role in guiding the East Harlem community through the Communities That Care process and is in the early stages of implementation. Finally, the Home of Integrated Behavioral Health hosts trainings throughout the year so industry professionals have an opportunity to learn about evidence-based treatments.
The Healthy Brain Network has been working with the Foundling since we first opened our doors in Staten Island. Over the years, we’ve developed protocols for enrolling children in foster care in response to the NY Foundling’s requests for evaluations, and explored several other projects.
Are you involved with an organization like the New York Foundling that works with children and families? Would you like to help connect those children and families with valuable information, treatment and services? Email us to learn how.
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