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Bishop Richard V.
Whelan founded the St. John’s Home for Children on February 21, 1856.
Bishop Whelan commissioned the Sisters of St. Joseph to care for
homeless girls in conjunction with Wheeling Hospital that was then
located on 15th Street in Wheeling. It was incorporated
with Wheeling Hospital in the amended charter of 1856 under the title
of “Wheeling Hospital and Orphan Asylum”. The facility received no
State aid and was funded entirely by the Diocese, gifts, and private
donations. Due to overcrowding the Wheeling Hospital and Orphan
Asylum moved to North Main Street in Wheeling. One wing was devoted
to the care of homeless girls.
August 31, 1887 saw
Bishop Kain open the St. John’s Home for Boys at a small house on 14th
Street that was occupied by the Marist Brothers. This expansion
was the direct result of a gift by Mrs. Mary Jane Carney.
In 1894 the St.
Vincent’s Home for Girls moved to Elm Grove at a residence on Marshall
Avenue in Wheeling that was able to house 12 to 14 females. That same
year the St. John’s Home for Boys also moved to Elm Grove due to a
need for larger quarters.
1903 saw the older,
school aged boys moved to a location on Ebbert’s Farm on Big Wheeling
Creek. This facility was under the care of the Xavierian
Brothers and was known as the St. Xavier’s Manual Training School.
Younger boys were still under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
1909 brought a move of the boys back to Elm Grove at a residence at 141 Key
Avenue, a site that remains today.
The Girls’ residence
was destroyed by fire in 1921. Subsequently, they were housed in the
schoolhouse located almost directly behind the residence until the
completion of a new brick building at the same location on Marshall
Avenue. This building today is known as the Thomas More Center, a
facility used by the Diocese for a Day Care facility, and to conduct
spiritual retreats.
The boys’ facility
was renovated in 1947 and served as the school building for both the
boys and girls. It included four large classrooms, an auditorium with
stage facilities and a well-equipped home economics room.
1967 saw the
management of the Home transferred from the Sisters of St. Joseph to a
Board of Directors with the Ordinary (Bishop) of the Diocese of
Wheeling as the Chairman of the Board. The first professionally
trained Social Worker was employed with the Home in 1970, and the
first Lay Person was appointed as Director of the Home.
The Home undertook a
professional study in March 1975 to evaluate program needs to
determine the client population which would best be served by the St.
Vincent’s Home, and to determine the future plans for the St.
Vincent’s Home, as de-institutionalization became the norm in the
social service environment. The results of this study resulted in
development of plans in April 1976 to construct three cottages, remove
the top two floors of the St. John’s Home, and renovate the basement
and first floor as an Administration and Recreation building.
Construction and
furnishing of three new cottage style buildings, each able to house
eight youth in an effort to de-institutionalize the facility from 1976
to 1978, was begun. Renovation of the St. John’s Home for Boys reduced it to a
one-story structure which served as a community building, housed the
dining room, tutoring room life skills room, kitchen, offices and
recreation room. With the reopening of the new campus, the name of
the agency was changed to the St. John’s Home for Children in 1977.
Its focus changed to a treatment program working with children
experiencing emotional disturbances.
The last of the
Sisters of St. Joseph left the agency in 1980 making it an agency
staffed entirely by Lay Persons. On December 11, 1984 The St.
John’s/St. Vincent’s Home, Inc. officially became incorporated in the
State of WV. In January 1989 The St. John’s opened one cottage as an
eight-bed family centered residential group home for preadolescent
boys aged eight to fourteen years, with family reunification as the
ultimate goal. Families are included as an integral part of the
treatment process. Average length of stay was estimated to be between
four and twelve months. A second cottage was used for Administrative
purposes.
The WV Department
of Health and Human Resources licensed the St. John’s Home as a
provider of behavioral health services in January 1991. That same
year, with the help of community volunteers, St. John’s constructs a
combination arts and crafts/recreation building on the site of the old
laundry facility. Its primary purpose is for indoor recreation and
expressive art therapy.
The St.
John’s Home, in February 1992, opened a Homebased Family Preservation
program to serve the five contiguous northern panhandle counties of
WV. The primary goal was to prevent out of home placement of youth.
This program operated until 1997 at which time the St. John’s Home,
due to significant changes in the State of West Virginia’s Policy on
Homebased Family Preservation Programs and significant changes in the
funding of Homebased Family Preservation Programs, St. Johns decides
to temporarily suspend our Homebased Family Preservation Program until
such time that the service delivery environment is more conducive to
such services.
From 1992
to 1994, The St. John’s Home, with financial assistance from the
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and from other groups, initiates a $30,000+ renovation project to the old dilapidated
Administrative building and began renovations to two of the campus
cottages to make them Day-care compatible. In 1995 these two cottages
were leased to a local Day-Care facility, with Administrative offices
moved into the renovated Administration Building.
Major change
occurred in January 1995 through July 1997 when the State of WV
funding for Residential behavioral health services changed from a fee
for service to per diem system of funding. The State also created a
consortium of “treatment levels of care” for Residential Care
facilities. St. John’s is classified as a Level II (in a four Level
System) Residential facility serving youth diagnosed with emotional
and/or behavioral disorders, and/or are victims of abuse and/or
neglect, and their families. The State of WV significantly changed
its funding methodology of Residential Group Homes that are also
licensed to provide behavioral health services. It shifted to a cost
related reimbursement methodology. This shifted the primary funding
source from the Federal Medicaid program to State Social Service
moneys, although Medicaid continued to be a funding source for
behavioral health facilities.
August 2000
brought additional significant changes in the WV, with the State of WV
took steps to place the State’s Behavioral Health System under a
managed care environment by contracting with an Administrative Service
Organization (called American Psych Systems) from Bethesda, MD to help
facilitate this process. These movements toward a managed care system
significantly impacted the behavioral health service delivery
environment in WV. This system of
care and the system of funding continues to the present day.
In August 2004 the St. John’s Home
receives National Accreditation from the Council on Accreditation.
COA accreditation attests that an
organization meets the highest national standards and is delivering
the best quality services to the community it
serves.
The St. John's Home receives
its National
Accreditation from the Council on Accreditation in 2004.
2004-2005 Board President
Carolyn Schafer, Executive Director Terry
McCormick, Bishop Emeritus Bernard Schmitt, Board Vice-President/Secretary
Kathy
Shelek-Furbee, and Past Board President (2003-2004) Warren Galbreath
On
February 21, 2006 the St. John’s Home for Children celebrated its
Sesquicentennial. A gala was held at the Wheeling Park White Palace
with music, dancing, dinner, heart warming testimonials from former
residents and Sisters of St. Joseph, and a silent auction were all
part of the festivities for this significant milestone. His
Excellency The Most. Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, Bishop of the
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston welcomed the Board of Directors,
staff, Sisters of St. Joseph and the nearly 200 family, friends and
guests of the St. John’s Home. Bishop Bransfield commended the long
and storied commitment of the St. John’s Home for Children’s
ministry of caring for youth and families. The Honorable Governor
Joe Manchin sent greetings to the crowd and thanked the St. John’s
Home for its dedication to serving the youth and families of West
Virginia.
Executive Director Mr. Terry McCormick, Sisters of St. Joseph
Vice-President Sr. Kathleen Durkin, Sisters of St. Joseph President
Sr. Marguerite O’Brien, and His Excellency The Most Rev. Michael J.
Bransfield, Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston help to
celebrate 150 years of service by the St. John’s Home for Children. |
