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History

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Caring for Children Since 1944

Since 1944, St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children has been caring for children. In a proud history marked by changes, one guiding principle has remained constant — we cherish each one of our children as individuals, regardless of their physical or mental conditions. The Home began when displaced children, abandoned by war widows, appeared on the doorstep of a local boarding school. The 19th century Norfolk school became St. Mary's Infant Home, and the Daughters of Wisdom began caring for the children.

St. Mary’s became a non-sectarian home at 317 Chapel Street in downtown Norfolk for children ages newborn to six on December 8, 1944.

 

By the late 1940s, the Home’s population grew to as many as 53 children, and by 1956, St. Mary’s began caring for children with disabilities. The Home’s focus shifted in the early 1960s, resulting in the construction of a 50-bed, accredited nursing facility specializing in residential care for mentally retarded children through 9 years of age. By the 1980s, St. Mary’s had evolved into the place it is today: a private, non-sectarian, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization providing a full range of health care services to children across the Commonwealth of Virginia with severe mental and physical disabilities.

The Women’s Auxiliary was formed in 1950 with 100 charter members.

 

Until late in 2003, residents ranged in age from newborn to 18 years. However, realizing that many of the Home’s older residents have difficulty adjusting to life in an adult setting after discharge, St. Mary’s board of directors changed the discharge policy to enable residents to remain at the Home until age 21. February 11, 2005, marked a very special day when the 88 children of St. Mary’s moved into our new Norfolk Home. This remarkable state-of-the-art facility is one of the few of its kind in the entire country to be designed and built from the ground up for the specific purpose of providing quality care in a home-like environment for children with severe disabilities.