The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and Lemieux Family Center

As staff is working hard at The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and Lemieux Family Center, the sound of laughing children penetrates the windows from the all-inclusive playground outside. All the employees take pause for a moment from their work and gaze out the windows with a smile on their face.

The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and Lemieux Family Center is an incredibly unique and special place. Through four programs that are provided, children who have complex medical issues and some who face difficult social issues, get to just be kids at The Children’s Home. It is wonderful to work in a place that has no expectations for the children that it cares for other than to experience the joys of being a child.

The Children’s Home is an independent, nonprofit organization with a mission to promote the health and well-being of infants and children through services that establish and strengthen the family. Under its roof, there are 4 unique programs: Adoption and Permanency Services, Child’s Way daycare, the Pediatric Specialty Hospital, devoted to family teaching, and Pediatric VIEW, a program that cares for children who are diagnosed with cortical visual impairment. Although quite different, each of these programs nurtures the children and families that come through The Children’s Home’s doors.

Adoption has expanded greatly since its inception more than 125 years ago. As a thriving full-service adoption agency it focuses on infant adoption and helping kids to find homes from foster care. The staff provides a full range of counseling services for birthmothers and adoptive families. The adoption and permanency program is broadening its expertise, as staff trains families who are willing to learn to care for medically fragile children. The department’s caring social workers and counselors are available 24/7 at (412) 736-2908. This close-knit group of professionals provide so much support for every component of the adoption process.

Child’s Way is a daycare for medically fragile children, housed within The Children’s Home & Lemieux Family Center. Dually licensed as a day-care and healthcare program we are qualified to take care of children ages birth to 21 who need 4 or more hours of nursing care per day. We are certified with 4 out of 4 Keystone STARS, providing critical early education alongside medical care. Every child thrives in an environment created to support their needs for growth and learning. Child’s Way can adapt to the individual needs of the children it serves. The beautiful and determined children provide lessons to everyone through their determination to overcome any obstacles.

The Children’s Home’s Pediatric Specialty Hospital is a 30-bed inpatient hospital that focuses on teaching the caregiver how to care for their medically fragile child at home. The nurse-to-patient ratio is very low so that nurses can spend dedicated time with caregivers to teach and empower them to provide hands on care for their child. Most days you will find nurses, PCTs, nurse practitioners and clinicians, working with families and building certainty in the caregivers. Clinical care is provided in a hospital disguised like home so that care is less stressful, comfortable, and relaxed. In our home like setting, we watch caregivers flourish.

The newest addition at The Children’s Home is Pediatric VIEW. The Children’s Home eagerly embraced a very important program called Pediatric VIEW in September 2021. This program cares for patients diagnosed with cortical visual impairment (CVI) which is a visual disfunction that occurs within the brain, not the eye. Within Pediatric VIEW, patients are provided with the tools they need to learn the world around them and to identify the objects that they see in their everyday life. The children served through Pediatric VIEW achieve great progress through the therapy and support provided through this service.

The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and Lemieux Family Center is a place where children thrive, and families are supported. To learn more about the programs that are offered, visit Childrenshomepgh.org.