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Children's Home & Aid Society of Illinois (CHASI) was founded in 1883 by Reverend Martin Van Arsdale,
a Presbyterian minister, who was determined to find loving homes for orphaned children and save them from unsavory institutions,
indenture, or apprenticeship. At a time when social services were limited to "preventing starvation and death from exposure
as economically as possible," Van Arsdale's pioneering vision gave homeless and orphaned children a welcome and caring alternative.
By 1909 Children's Home & Aid Society already was providing services throughout the state and considered to be one of
the nation's most prominent children's agencies.
Children's Home & Aid Society was one of the first agencies to
move away from a volunteer work force and develop a staff trained in the latest social work methods and setting professional
standards of service. CHASI was a leader in the development of standards for child placement, the separation of fundraising
from social work, child and family counseling and prevention programs, and influencing key legislation affecting the welfare
of children and families. Keeping families together and children with their mothers became overriding objectives.
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