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About Us
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History
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IWSE has served Evanston and the surrounding community
including the North Side of Chicago since 1913 when volunteers began distributing milk to poor families with infants and
toddlers. Later, the agency operated prenatal and pediatric health clinics and provided visiting nurses. These efforts
helped reduce infant mortality in Evanston from 60 deaths per 1,000 births to 2. In 1970, IWSE changed its focus from
healthcare to childcare when it recognized an urgent need for care for infants and toddlers whose single mothers needed
to work. Preschool care was available for children between three and five, but infants and toddlers were being left alone
or attended by young siblings. In 1971, IWSE opened Baby Toddler Nursery, the very first licensed childcare center for
infants and toddlers in the State of Illinois and one of the first in the nation.
Because IWSE recognized that the vulnerable children served at Baby Toddler Nursery needed early help in order to develop
in pace with their more advantaged peers, in 1983, IWSE initiated our The Sooner, The Better project (TSTB), the precursor
to our current Family Support Program to provide developmental screenings of every child and follow-up services that
helped children stay on-target rather than fall behind. TSTB has been and continues to provide intensive services to
the highest-risk children in Evanston that help them succeed rather than fail in school.
In 1989, IWSE opened Teen Baby Nursery at the request of the City of Evanston in order to provide care, early learning,
and early intervention to the children of teen parents and to provide support services that help their mothers make
choices to avoid second pregnancies, become effective parents, and graduate from high school.
IWSE has a long history of identifying community needs and pioneering Innovative solutions. Since1999, our organization
has partnered with the Childcare Network of Evanston and Evanston Child Care Center to provide Early Head Start child care
services to the Evanston community in support of our area’s most impoverished families.
Most recently, IWSE has expanded its long-standing The Sooner The Better project into a full-fledged Family Support
Program which includes the developmental focus and services of TSTB as well as numerous other supportive services for
families who are living in poverty and at-risk in our area. IWSE continues to be concerned for the well-being of very
young children and their families, working continually to recognize and define problems, and to develop practical solutions.
IWSE is honored to stand for and with the children of our community and with their families. As we approach 100 years
of service, we celebrate thousands of children and families served and thousands more to be served.
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Service
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The Infant Welfare Society of Evanston provides the following services:
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Full-day child care for children 6 weeks to 3 years old for 70 children through Early Head Start, Subsidized Care,
and Private Pay.
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Full-day child care for children 6weeks to 3 years old for 16 children who are parented by teenagers. Early Head Start
child care.
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Family support services including prenatal groups, home visiting programs, parent training and support, developmental
screening and assessment, therapeutic intervention and group sessions.
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Baby Toddler Nursery
Baby Toddler Nursery was the first licensed childcare center for infants and toddlers in the State of Illinois and one of
the first in the nation in 1971. For almost 35 years, Baby Toddler nursery has been providing quality care with the
utmost attention paid to each child’s individual needs and has focused its services on the families with the most need
for support. Baby Toddler Nursery provides full-day child care for approximately seventy children each day and serves
approximately 120 children over the course of each year. Over seventy percent of these families come from families living
in poverty.
Childcare is provided at Baby Toddler Nursery for children from six weeks through three years old. For forty-two of our
families at Baby Toddler Nursery, their care is provided through Early Head Start and in collaboration with the Childcare
Network of Evanston. For many others, care is subsidized through the State of Illinois, and for others still childcare is
provided at fee-based pricing. Classrooms are staffed at ratios higher than those required by the State in order to
provide individualized care and attention to all the children in our care. In some cases, children with health challenges
and developmental delays are in need of additional attention and care. By maintaining three teachers in each classroom
of eight children for children under two, we are able to support these children in all the ways they need support
and care.
In no instance does support or subsidy from Early Head Start or state subsidy cover the full cost of care at Baby Toddler
Nursery. IWSE relies on private funds to assist us in providing the most needy families with the highest standard of
care so that we can support the optimal developmental and social experiences so necessary to later success.
At Baby Toddler Nursery, children participate in specialized care and early learning experiences that promote and nurture
optimal development. We employ a cadre of highly-qualified staff who participate in ongoing education and professional
development in the area of child development and early childhood education. Supervision of teachers and classrooms is
provided by Masters-level professionals who guide the work of the center and the teachers as they meet the developmental,
safety, health, nutritional, and social needs of children. Because families can often experience stress and challenges
as they work to improve their families’ futures, Baby Toddler Nursery works to provide care that needs the needs of the
family and supports them as they work towards their goals.
Teen Baby Nursery
Teen Baby Nursery serves pregnant and parenting teens and pre-teens and their infants and toddlers. Teen Baby Nursery
helps young parents graduate from high school, make post-graduation plans, and become effective parents while providing
early education and intervention to their high-rick children.
Teens who participate in the services of Teen baby Nursery and whose children receive child care here boast a graduation
rate of ninety-four percent. This rate far exceeds the national graduation rate of thirty percent among teen mothers.
Additionally, fewer than ten percent of mothers involved with Teen baby Nursery became pregnant again while still
teenagers. This compares with a rate of twenty-five percent nationally for subsequent pregnancies among teen mothers
who do not receive services like ours.
Teen Baby Nursery serves to provide prenatal care and parenting workshops that assist young parents as they prepare for
and face the challenges of parenthood. Teen Baby Nursery also provides its childcare services to parents who attend
middle and high schools in the Evanston area. During the summer months, Teen Baby Nursery continues its services for
parents with summer school and job obligations.
Each day, Teen Baby Nursery provides full-day childcare to sixteen children of Evanston teens as well as prenatal support
services to eight or more teens whose children may or not come to be enrolled in Teen baby’s childcare after birth.
All sixteen infants and toddlers served at Teen Baby Nursery are enrolled in Early Head Start in collaboration with the
Childcare Network of Evanston.
As with our Baby Toddler Nursery program, Teen Baby Nursery boasts high teacher-child ratios as well as staff with strong
qualifications, education, and experience. Our Teen baby Nursery staff is particularly skilled at working with teen
parents and with their children who show significant rates of developmental delay and challenging behavior from home.
Teen mothers who are pregnant can attend workshops and parenting courses offered by Teen Baby Nursery. Teen Baby Nursery
staff also provides outreach and teen and pre-teen education in the community in order to help prevent teen pregnancy.
While teen pregnancy is a challenge for families, teens, high schools, and communities, Teen Baby Nursery strives to
shield infants and toddlers of teen parents from some of the challenges and to provide them with a nurturing, consistent
environment in which they can learn and grow so that when they are ready for school they are as developmentally prepared
as their more advantaged peers. Teen parenting is difficult under the best of circumstances, and because of this, our
Family Support staff and Teen Baby staff and leadership make special efforts to work with each parenting teen on a regular
and personal basis to provide support, guidance, advocacy, and a listening ear.
Family Support Program
In launching our newly-named Family Support Program, IWSE has expanded its long-standing The Sooner The Better project
into a full-fledged Program which includes the developmental focus and services of that project as well as numerous
other supportive services for families who are living in poverty and at-risk in our area. IWSE continues to be concerned
for the well-being of very young children and their families, working continually to recognize and define problems,
and to develop practical solutions.
IWSE’s Family Support Program extends to families who are involved in IWSE’s child care services as well as many who are
not yet are in need of support, developmental screening and therapies, and educational services. Over eighty percent
of the families who benefit from these services are living in poverty. Many are teen parents, homeless parents, victims
or survivors of domestic violence, or otherwise at-risk.
In order to support parents in providing the support, nurturing, safety, health support, and developmental stimulation
their children need to keep up with their peers as they move towards school-age, IWSE’s Family Support Program provides
a myriad of services aimed at providing parents with the support, information, tools, and assistance they can best utilize
to help themselves and their children reach their goals and overcome barriers.
Services in this program include:
1. Parental education and training;
2. Home visiting;
3. Parent support;
4. Therapeutic groups for parents and children;
5. Therapeutic groups for children with developmental needs;
6. Specialized developmental screening, assessment, and intervention.
Case coordination for each family focuses care and supportive services on the particular needs and goals of the family
and meets the family where it chooses to begin. IWSE’s Family Support Service Program provides services and supports
that are crucial to the academic, occupational, and social success of children living in economically disadvantaged
situations in our community.
IWSE utilizes our nearly century-old strength in and knowledge of infant and toddler health, development, welfare,
parenting, and support to assist families as they navigate the first years of their child’s life. By providing counseling,
parent education, modeling of parenting skills and techniques, and a listening ear, the Family Support Program staff
works to help each family to parent and support their children to their best potential.
Parental Education and Training includes both group and one-on-one support and guidance in areas of child health,
discipline, nutrition, safety, development, language acquisition, fine and gross motor development, and social
interaction. Parents bring with them their own strengths and needs for learning and grow together as they share and
participate in group sessions tailored to help them explore and learn in a non-judgmental yet guided curriculum.
Therapeutic groups for children and for children and their parents stem from IWSE’s competency and long history of
providing developmental screening, assessment, and intervention to families with infants and toddlers in order to
catch and address any developmental delays of challenges at the very earliest stage, before long-term consequences
come into play. These groups are focused on the individual developmental needs and challenges of the children and
on providing their parents with the knowledge, understanding, and skills to assist their own children in overcoming
and facing hurdles and delays.
Home Visiting services are provided to teen parents and homeless parents in Evanston, on the North side of Chicago,
and in other surrounding suburban areas. Home Visitors work with parents on a regular basis and provide one-on-one
parental training, model parenting and child development techniques, individualized attention and case coordination,
and crisis support. Parents who are living in tenuous situations struggle to provide for their children a nurturing,
attentive, safe, and healthy environment. Our Home Visiting project strives to help these parents as they strive to
help and parent their children and to move their own lives forward towards workable goals.
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Commitment to Families Most in Need
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All of IWSE’s Family Support Program offerings work in coordination to assure that parents and children in need of
supportive services are provided with the individualized attention that they need in order to parent their children and
sustain their family in a positive and goal-focused manner. Children whose parents are supported in parenting during
high-risk times of life are less likely to suffer from abuse, neglect, developmental delay, and poor health.
IWSE is committed to providing the best for the children in our community.
In all of IWSE’s programs, a large majority of spaces and services (over 70%) are provided to children from low-income
families eligible for federally subsidized child care. The Infant Welfare Society of Evanston has a long and successful
history of providing high quality services to low-income families and their infants and toddlers. All of IWSE’s programs,
serve the same general purpose; helping very young children learn and develop optimally and helping families achieve
self-sufficiency and become effective parents. These combined efforts have helped reshape thousands of children’s and
their families’ futures.
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