50 Years of Service

Center for Children and Families, Inc. (CCFI) began in 1969 as a shelter for youth, from birth to 18 years old, who needed a safe and nurturing place to stay as a positive alternative to juvenile detention. Known then as Juvenile Services, Inc. (JSI), we met a vital need in the community while laying the foundation for our mission “to improve the lives of children.” Today, CCFI continues to create better and brighter futures for those we serve because every child deserves to grow up safe, nurtured and loved.

1969 – 1979

Since inception, we’ve focused on healing children suffering from child abuse and neglect, as well as provide support and education to parents and caregivers. Our flagship service, Extended Families, provided short-term, emergency foster home care to approximately 100 Cleveland County children annually. The Parents Assistance and Divorce Visitation Arbitration programs were later introduced to prevent and treat child abuse, and offer mediation, education and child advocacy to divorced or divorcing couples.

1980 – 1989

During our second decade of service, we launched the Teenage Parenting program to support pregnant and parenting teens. Not only did this service pinpoint specific needs of teens, it also provided education and resources through home visitation and individual and family counseling.

1990 – 1999

As our agency continued to grow, we expanded services to cultivate and capitalize on neighborhood connections. The Neighborhood Centers program was developed to provide enriching relationship-based activities for both children and caregivers during out-of-school hours. Another major milestone came in the late nineties, when we officially changed our name to Center for Children and Families, Inc. (CCFI).

2000 – 2009

As time went on, we began putting even more focus on healing children and started offering Trauma Focused Counseling Services. While these services were aimed towards children suffering from abuse and neglect, they also provided much needed support for their families. Not long after our counseling program began, we introduced Bringing Up Babies, which offered home visitation and education to pregnant and parenting individuals. This preventative service was established to teach parents how to create healthy and stimulating home environments in hopes of ending generational cycles of abuse and neglect.

2010 – 2019

Shortly after entering our fourth decade in the community, we began a multi-million dollar Capital Campaign to renovate our current 28,000 square foot building.

Moving into this facility allowed us to expand services and ultimately open the area’s first and only Boys & Girls Club of Norman. Today, the Club serves an average of 85 members a day and continues to carry out our mission to heal children, empower youth and strengthen families.