Child Development Institute was officially formed in April, 2004, through the merger of Earlscourt Child and Family Centre and The Crèche Child and Family Centre in Toronto. The two "legacy" organizations each have a proud history of helping children and families and addressing community needs for over 90 years.

The Crèche Child and Family Centre was established in 1909 by a group from the Anglican Church headed by Gertrude Tate and Mary E. Burton. Since the beginning, The Crèche focused its efforts on the early years of childhood. Serving children aged 0-6 and their families, our first permanent facility was built in 1913 and still stands today on Euclid Avenue in downtown Toronto (a complete redesign and renovation took place in the late 1980s with the assistance of The Rotary Club of Toronto). The agency was founded by a group who were committed to addressing the growing needs for the care and supervision of young children in working families. The Crèche was one of Toronto's pioneering daycare centres and played a pivotal role in the early development and formation of child care services. Other programs in the early days included employment programs for women, a well-baby clinic and a children's milk program.



In the 1920's and 1930's, The Crèche developed a strong interest in the psychology of early childhood and hired some of the first mental health professionals. This interest gradually became the focal point for the agency and in 1958 it became a centre for autism and other early childhood developmental and mental health disorders.



With this experience, The Crèche developed into a full service multi-disciplinary agency in the 1970's providing clinical services and day treatment for young children, and incorporating a growing emphasis on family work and community-based service provision. During the 1980's, The Crèche also developed increasing expertise in the treatment of childhood sexual abuse.



In the 1990s, our focus broadened to include services to address family violence and we developed a number of prevention programs to augment our early intervention services. We added mutual aid and group models to our service philosophy and continued to reach out to families in the community. Throughout our history, The Crèche made it a priority to provide responsive service to a diverse population by incorporating a range of accessible, neighborhood-based programming. We also added a number of programs and services in support of healthy child development and family support including three licensed child care centres and several family support programs.