The History of Center for Child & Family Services
Center for Child & Family Services began in late 1943 in response to the wartime need for professional counseling services for disrupted families. At that time, the agency was known as the Family Counseling Service. In 1944, the agency became affiliated with the National Family Service Association of America, now the Alliance for Children & Families. Initial funding was provided by a committee of concerned society ladies. By 1945, the agency was funded by the Community Chest from the neighboring cities of Hampton and Newport News, which later became the United Fund and subsequently the United Way. In 1947, the agency began providing family counseling services on a Peninsula-wide basis, which is a continued practice today.
In the fall of 1957, the Family Counseling Service merged with Traveler’s Aid Society of Newport News to form Peninsula Family Services and Traveler’s Aid. The new agency functioned under one group of officers and board of directors selected from a pool of members from the two original agencies. In 1959, the agency was incorporated as a private, nonprofit, non-sectarian, social service agency.
In the 1960’s, under the leadership of the agency’s CEO, Edwin Cotten, Peninsula Family Services and Traveler’s Aid became an accredited member agency of the Family Service Association of America, now the Council on Accreditation, and has continued to be re-accredited every four years to present. Although the sixties were lean years for the United Fund and this for the agency, significant strides were made in increased services to children. The late sixties saw a change in program emphasis with improved services in the areas of crisis management, community education and in-depth work with children as a part of family counseling.
In the 1970’s, the agency’s continued responsiveness to the growing and changing needs of the community resulted in the development of several cooperative programs. In 1970, the Peninsula Council on Drug Abuse Information and Education was established, and support and assistance were given to the formation of the Virginia Chapter 10 Community Services Board. In 1974, due to increasing client caseloads, outposts were established to provide individual and group counseling services to families in York County and the surrounding areas. Additionally, in 1974 the agency cooperated with Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations and Hampton City Schools to provide a family counseling unit for student and families. The agency also cooperated with Patrick Henry Hospital for the Chronically Ill to provide professional counseling services to assist patients and their families in the adjustment to the hospital setting. In 1975, Peninsula Youth House was established to provide a group living experience for teenage girls. During the same year, the agency participated in the Vietnam Refugee Resettlement Project, successfully assisting three families on the Peninsula. The Youth House was discontinued at the end of the grant project.
In the 1980’s, the agency developed and expanded services to persons with credit challenges. Peninsula Consumer Credit Counseling Service officially began in 1981 and continues today under the name Consumer Credit Counseling of Hampton Roads. By 1985 demand for all services increased to the point of establishing evening appointments till 9pm three nights a week and adding an answering service for after-hours and holiday emergency callers. In 1987 the agency’s commitment to strengthen families through participation in the Domestic Violence Task Force and Child Sexual Abuse Task Force led to the reorganization and operation of a Parents United program under the auspices of Peninsula Family Services and Traveler’s Aid. The agency received seed money for the project from the United Way. Later in 1987, the agency began providing group counseling services to men found guilty of assaultive behavior toward women. The men’s and women’s anger management groups continue today as part of the Center’s Peaceful Choices Program.
In November 1987, Peninsula Family Services and Traveler’s Aid began a new administration under the direction of CEO Faye C. Webb. Unfortunately, lack of funding forced the agency to drop its’ Traveler’s Aid services and the agency subsequently changed its name to Peninsula Family Services.
The 1990’s continued to be a decade of change for the agency, changing its name again in 1995 to Center for Child & Family Services in order to reflect its increasing emphasis on services to children and families. As services continued to expand, the agency moved offices to the present Cunningham Drive location from the United Way Building on Aberdeen Road, which was demolished. Mrs. Webb retired in 1997, and the board appointed Mr. Robert Lehmann as the new CEO of the Center for Child & Family Services in 1998. Mr. Lehmann continued to pursue growth at the agency by adding new services such as Youth Job Readiness Services, Youth Anger Management Services and Social Security Payee Services.
The early 2000’s continued to see new services added to the family of services of the Center. In 2002, the Center merged Child Caring Connection (changing its name to Child & Family Connection) of Williamsburg, a program focused on providing quality childcare placement to parents and support services to childcare providers.
In 2004, the Center’s Board of Directors appointed Mr. Michael Edmonds as the new CEO, which Mr. Edmonds continues in that role today. The rest of the 2000’s the Center continued to add and expanded services such as Safe Harbor for Kids, a visitation service for non-custodial parents that is child centered; Mental Health Services to the Williamsburg office, an Approved provider of Bankruptcy education counseling by US Trustee Office, Veteran’s Administration payee services, the Infant Toddler Specialist Network-Peninsula Region and founding of the PATTS program (Peaceful Alternatives to Tough Situations), a youth anger management program for school aged youth ages K-12, which since its inception has been national recognized as an evidence based program and has been sold to over 40+ programs across the country and two countries outside of the United States.
In the 2010’s, the agency continued to shine as a leader in the community of providing cutting edge services to those in need in our community. The Center has expanded services during the decade to include Youth and Adult Substance Abuse; Launch Program – Supporting youth who are aging out foster care with counseling and support services, including the Launch House with a generous grant from the Bernardine Franciscan Foundation; Fresh Start Adult Job Readiness Services for those with criminal and other barriers to employment; Multicultural Counseling and Violence Prevention and Intervention Program in our Williamsburg office funded from generous support of the Williamsburg Health Foundation, United Way and HRSD cooperative money management program; Neurofeedback Counseling Services with generous support of Williamsburg Health Foundation; Trauma informed counseling services to include Child Treatment Counseling program funded in part by Virginia Department of Social Services and Department of Criminal Justice Services. The Center has added and expanded their community impact and fundraising events such as Holiday Light Stroll, expanded Country for Kids to the Peninsula, obtained new office space in Williamsburg and administrative offices in Hampton.
As the Center celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2018 the agency’s core goal of helping fellow neighbors in their time of need has not changed over the years. The Center prides itself in providing community-based services which empower people to face life's challenges. The agency’s mission is to deliver quality counseling programs and support services that inspire individuals and families to improve their lives.
Today the Center offers 22+ comprehensive and diverse programs to assist families in overcoming challenges, making responsible choices, and improving quality of life through better employment, parenting skills, mental health/psychotherapy, violence prevention, ex-offender adult and juvenile job training/mentoring, adult and juvenile anger management, adolescent and young adult substance abuse, shoplifting intervention, prostitution intervention, prostitution solicitation intervention, substance abuse outpatient groups, trauma support/psychotherapy, budget and credit counseling, housing counseling, representative payee services, child care training and support services, a comprehensive program for youth aging out of systems of care such as foster care or incarceration, Hispanic outreach, and supervised child visitation programs.
The Center for Child & Family Services is looking forward to the next decade to see how we can continue to help our fellow neighbors in their time of need….
