Our History
Christ Child House (CCH) is owned and operated by the Christ Child Society of Detroit and benefits from the knowledge and insight of an Advisory Council comprised of dozens of metro-Detroit business and community leaders representing a wide scope of expertise and each fully committed to the protection
of children.
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CCH is accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Families and Children (COA), a member of the Michigan Federation for Children and Families and a placement center of choice for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
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Licensed and contracted by the State of Michigan, Bureau of Children and Adult Licensing, CCH provides services to boys of every race, creed and national origin.
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Christ Child House is owned and operated by the Detroit Chapter of the Christ Child Society, a charitable, non-profit organization of volunteers who have been helping disadvantaged youth throughout Michigan for more than 100 years.
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In 1948, the Christ Child Society became aware of the lack of temporary emergency housing for children removed from a home in crisis, often facing parental unemployment or catastrophic illness. Answering the challenge, the Society purchased, decorated and furnished a home on Pallister Avenue in Detroit’s New
Center neighborhood that could house up to eleven children at one time.
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As the years passed, the Society faced the reality that the House, overcrowded and in constant need of repairs, was no longer meeting the needs of the children they were serving.
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In 1957, two acres of land on Joy Road, west of Greenfield, were acquired from Ford Motor Company and the Henry Ford family for a purchase price of $1. The grey brick colonial farmhouse that today we call Christ Child House opened its doors to 18 children in May 1958.
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The House has undergone numerous physical plant expansions since that date; however, the most significant change has been in the profile of the boys who call the House their home. The definition of a “home in crisis” is worlds apart from that which served as the genesis of this program.
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The paths these young men have traveled to the doorstep of CCH are ones of physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse and years of neglect. Often these children have failed in multiple foster home placements. They suffer learning disabilities, emotional distress, anxiety, depression and the lasting effects of post-traumatic stress.
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Following a period of intensive individual and family therapy, children have been able to return to their homes, but increasingly, a total breakdown of the family system makes a child’s return impossible. In these cases, the House seeks forever families and strives to build a strong loving bond between the child and his new family.
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Today, Christ Child House is Detroit's premier trauma informed residential treatment center that will continue to adapt to the changing needs of the community we serve. But undoubtedly, the House will always stand as a place of refuge, healing and a new beginning.
