WCA History:
Nearly 100 Years of Advocating for Children

Our Beginnings

WCA’s remarkable record of innovative policies and programs for children began in 1914.

In the early 1900's, poor children whose parents could not care for them were housed with indigent, criminal, and psychotic adults. Westchester’s first Superintendent of the Poor, V. Everit Macy, asked the volunteers of the Westchester Children’s Committee of State Charities Aid Association (today known as the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy) to study the problems of children under his care, and make recommendations for improvements.

After documenting the need for special attention for these children, the Committee raised funds to underwrite the salaries of Westchester's first six child welfare workers. The Children’s Committee established an independent organization that became the Westchester Children’s Association.

Historical Highlights

2000’s

In order to identify and address children’s needs, WCA published Westchester Children By the Numbers 2008, a unique, comprehensive collection of data on Westchester’s children, including information on Demographics, Economic Security, Health, Child Care, Education, Child Welfare, and Juvenile Justice.

Current data is available on our online DataFinder.

WCA coordinated the joint efforts of government departments and community agencies to enroll eligible children in free or low-cost health insurance. Since 2000, more than 10,000 children have been enrolled.

WCA secured the first-ever grants for Westchester’s foster youth who age out of care, to help them start their independent, adult lives.

WCA has focused on children’s mental health, successfully advocating for increased public investments in early-childhood mental health. WCA published a bi-lingual parent education booklet on children’s emotional development, called Pay Attention! A Guide to the Well-Being of Your Child From Birth to Six, as well as No Time to Lose, a study of available services for young children and their families who face mental health issues.

WCA led the fight for better pediatric emergency training for EMTs and ambulance volunteers. As a result, Westchester County has established a training center attended by hundreds of emergency workers each year.

WCA has published several booklets aimed at preventive health care and providing healthy lives for children, including Your Child’s Smile (focused on dental health), But I’m Not Sick (focused on preventive health care for teens), and Making Ends Meet: Info on Housing, Childcare, Food, Tax Relief, Health Care.

WCA published Supporting Our Youngest Citizens: An Inventory and Review of Early Childhood Resources in Westchester, examining early intervention resources available in the County.

WCA published Children Adrift, examining the plight of foster children waiting for adoption. This influential report hastened reform of the County's adoption practices, reducing the length of time children spend without a permanent home.

WCA chairs Child Health Advocacy Network (CHAN), a coalition of 70+ members, formerly called Child Health Task Force, and formerly chaired jointly by WCA and the Westchester County Department of Health. CHAN continues the work begun by the Task Force, examining the health status of children, identifying barriers to positive health outcomes, and developing strategies and advocacy efforts to improve the health of Westchester’s children and youth.

1990’s

WCA, in collaboration with the Westchester Council on Crime and Delinquency, founded Campaign for Kids and successfully advocated for increased County investment in preventive youth programs. The Campaign, which now comprises more than 80 organizations and is led and staffed by WCA, continues to press for greater public investment in services for children and youth.

WCA developed a supervised visitation program to enable children to maintain meaningful contact with non-custodial parents. The YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester now operates this program with funding secured through WCA advocacy.

WCA established the Yonkers Family Court Children's Center to care for young children whose parents had to appear as litigants. Because of the success of the Yonkers center, other centers were opened in White Plains and in New Rochelle, with funding secured through WCA advocacy.

WCA and the Westchester County Department of Health formed the Child Health Task Force, the first goal of which was to prepare for the expansion of state-sponsored health insurance for children. Task Force members were particularly concerned that families would have help with enrollment, would have easy access to care and would make full use of their health benefits.

1980’s

WCA established the County's first shelter for runaway and homeless youth, operated today by Children's Village.

WCA conducted a Parenting Education Program in the County's well-baby clinics.

WCA instituted an Annual Youth Convention for Teens. Today, this annual event teaches hundreds of students how to be community activists and advocates. The Youth Convention has become an activity sponsored by the Westchester Youth Council.

1970’s

WCA established an early childhood center in Mt. Vernon, serving emotionally disturbed preschool children and their parents. In 1975, responsibility for the projects was turned over to the County's Mental Health Board.

WCA initiated Operations Crossroads, which assisted children and their families involved with the Family Court.

1950’s

WCA placed the first clinical psychologist in the County's public schools. WCA’s study and subsequent project were instrumental in the eventual adoption by Westchester’s school districts of the position of school pyschologist.

1940’s

WCA established a child guidance center in White Plains.

1930’s

WCA developed a vocational guidance and placement service for youth.

1920’s

WCA led the movement to establish a Children's Court in Westchester, the first such court in New York State, with court assistants' salaries and training courses for probation workers initially paid for by WCA.

WCA introduced remedial reading programs and guidance programs into the County's Public Schools.

1915

WCA introduced child welfare workers to Westchester County. At the request of Westchester’s Superintendant for the Poor, V. Everit Macy, a group of citizens studied the problems of children under his care, with the goal of finding solutions. Eventually, the group of citizens underwrote the salaries of Westchester's first six child welfare workers, providing children with the care they needed. The result so impressed public officials that the welfare workers became the beginning of the Division of Family and Child Welfare of the Westchester County Department of Social Services. The group of citizens became the Westchester Children’s Association.