We support the healthy development of children and youth, while stabilizing their families to build stronger communities.
Our Vision
Everything we do is designed to create a better future for our families. We believe that every child and youth has the potential to transform themselves – no matter their background or life situations. If we invest in that potential through services that focus on care, safety, health, permanency, independence, and positive relationships, then children, youth and their families will lead happier and healthy lives.
At Northern, we don’t just adapt—we lead. As we reflect on the past year, one thing is clear: Our work has never been more essential.
Renata Cobbs-Fletcher — President and CEO
A Message From Our President And CEO
As we navigate 2025, Northern remains steadfast in our commitment and work to ensure that every child, youth, and family we serve has access to safety, healing, and opportunity. The challenges facing the Philadelphia communities Northern serves remain urgent—poverty, violence, systemic inequities, and the resulting and pervasive impacts of trauma, continue to take their toll. At the same time, the broader landscape in the U.S. and the world is shifting. But we refuse to stand still.
While we celebrate progress—like reductions in gun violence and growing recognition of trauma-informed care—we also face new threats. Federal funding cuts, workforce shortages in behavioral health, and a critical need for stable foster and adoptive homes leave too many young people waiting for help. The demand for our services has never been greater.
At Northern, we meet these challenges head-on. Our strength lies in our ability to evolve while staying true to our mission. From our Philadelphia campus to homes, schools, and communities, we are expanding trauma-informed programs, deepening partnerships, and securing new investments to support children and families. Our focus on poverty, mental and behavioral health, violence prevention, early intervention, and foster and adoptive care remains unwavering.
The road ahead requires advocacy, innovation, and sustained investment in the young people we serve.
At Northern, we are ready. Together with partners and supporters like you, we will continue building a more resilient, compassionate Philadelphia—where every child and family has the support they need to heal, grow, and thrive. Thank you for standing with us, now and always.
With gratitude,
Renata
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
Our Values
At Northern Children, we strive to live out our core values each and every day.
Excellence
Fresh ideas, creativity, and best practices are the foundation of our program models. As a learning organization, we are committed to ongoing and mid-course corrections that push us to grow, improve, adapt, and change, allowing us to serve our families with the integrity and excellence they deserve.
Respect
Young people and families bring their own knowledge, values, ideas, and beliefs. Through respectful, compassionate and nurturing relationships that promote healing, we provide services and programs in a safe and trustworthy environment. Together, we move toward the realization of a shared vision for a bright today and a brighter tomorrow.
Resilience
We create an atmosphere that promotes strength, healing, and recovery and builds on the courage and resources within individuals, families, and communities. We address needs by embracing the individualized tools and gifts that each person, family, and community bring.
Cultural Humility & Justice
We understand the value that diversity of all kinds brings to all our lives and work. We are open and hungry for equity and justice for all. and our minds are open to any ideas that help us all get there. We recognize that systemic racism and inequality are woven into the fabric of what we do and who we serve. We advocate for system change through our voices, our actions, and our work. We remain vulnerable and open as we go about the messiness of unlearning and teaching, and we do so with compassion for one another and ourselves.
Healing
We acknowledge the role that trauma plays in the lives of many if not most of us. We embrace a culture of safety, empowerment, and healing, and believe in asking,” What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?”. Hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people.
Wellness
We understand that we cannot be at our best if we don’t have good health. We promote good mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health and well-being in the workplace and in our personal lives, and strive to model these priorities for others, both in our work and beyond.
Our History
1853 - 1922
Northern Children's Services opened its doors in 1853 on Buttonwood Street in Philadelphia. At that time, the organization was named, "Northern Home for Friendless Children." It was founded by Elizabeth E. Hutter as a residential refuge for children who had been left without parents, both in the Civil War and for other reasons.
The mission of Northern Home for Friendless Children was to serve “destitute and neglected children, ignorant or forsaken, little boys or girls under twelve years of age.” In 1854, Northern Home for Children relocated to 23rd & Brown Streets in Philadelphia. The home was built for $21,500 and housed 114 children. It was there for almost 70 years. In 1867, Elizabeth Hutter became the first woman in Pennsylvania history to receive a Governor’s commission as Inspector and Examiner of the State Department’s Soldiers and Sailors Orphan Schools.
From 1853 through 1860, 1300 children were admitted to Northern Home.
1923 - 1969
In 1923, Northern Home for Friendless Children moved to its current location at 5301 Ridge Avenue in the Wissahickon neighborhood of Philadelphia. The new, 6+ acre campus offered four dormitories, an infirmary with a doctor, dentist, and nurse attending, a dining hall and kitchen, a gymnasium, a library, and administrative and meeting rooms during. Outdoor recreation was spacious.
By 1953, the campus housed 100 children. Children came to the Home, in most instances, “from broken families in distressed conditions. They suffered from emotional problems, insecurity, and fear of the future. Some came from other institutions or agencies that had been unsuccessful in getting the children to respond positively to these environments.” Northern Home provided these children with a positive program designed to give individual help to each child, based upon the child’s own requirements.
1970 - 1999
Now called Northern Home for Children, the organization began to change its services throughout these two decades. Northern Home began to create programs that reached more children, youth, and families. They also started new programs that serviced clients directly in the community. There was still a residential program, but it was no longer Northern Home's primary service.
Northern Home focused on providing a broader range of care. The services were intended to address a wider range of needs. They also focused on both preventive services as well as interventive services. This helped them to meet each client where they were.
In 1999, Merrick Hall closed.
2000 - 2014
In 2006, As our services grew, so did the campus when the Alexander Buck Residence Hall opened. This was the first new building on the campus in 25 years. It currently provides housing for 8 young men and women, all of whom are youth transitioning to adulthood. In 2008, The Weinberg Residence Hall was renovated and reopened. This building continues to house a transitional program for up to eight young mothers at imminent risk of homelessness with up to two children each. In 2012, We changed our name to Northern Children's Services to better reflect the care and services we provide to our clients and the community.
After 15 years of being vacant, Merrick Hall - the oldest building on our campus - reopened on July 31, 2014. Mr. Bon Jovi and the JBJ Soul Foundation again supported Northern in the renovation. “From day one on the campus of Northern Children’s Services some ten years ago, I marveled at the history and hidden beauty of that old building – Merrick Hall,” stated Jon Bon Jovi, Chairman of the JBJ Soul Foundation. “It is wonderful to see it now fully restored to glory and in use for such a purposeful cause – addressing the needs of young mothers in this community.”
2015 - Today
Our residential services now house 28 mothers with up to two children, including permanent housing.
Whether by preventing hospitalization through support and care, supporting the improvement of behaviors, ensuring the safety and health of youth in foster care homes, and preventing our single parent residents from the worry of eviction or homelessness, Northern continues to be there for our families and communities. We work to ensure that our young people have stable, consistent, structured, and caring environments—at home, at school, on our campus—and throughout the community.
