150 Year Anniversary
Beginning 150 years ago with six young children who needed a home all the way up until today when we are caring for thousands of children and families each year, Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois has been committed to helping all of God’s children reach their full potential.
Join LCFS’ Circle of Support and help us continue to impact lives as we look toward the future. Thank you for your partnership yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The agency now known as Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois traces its beginning back to the founding of the German Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Home Association of Northern Illinois at Concordia Teachers Seminary, then located in Addison, on June 27, 1873.
In 1872, the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states was observing its 25th anniversary at its convention in St. Louis, Missouri. In one of the floor committees, a speaker suggested that it would be a good idea to have an orphan home next to the teachers seminary at Addison, Illinois, so that children from the orphan home could constitute a demonstration school for practice teaching of the seminary students. A reporter from the local newspaper misunderstood the remark and wrote that the Synod had decided to begin such an institution. The report went on the news wire and was widely printed. Addison people laughed at the false report.
Several months later, the Addison church, now known as Zion Lutheran Church in Bensenville, received a check for $24.25 for the Addison orphanage. This was followed by other similar gifts. The Lutheran Christians in northern Illinois soon concluded that the Lord was giving them a very strong hint that it was His will that an orphanage home be started in Addison. The thirteen congregations in the northern Illinois conference were asked to consider the matter. In May, 1873, at a meeting of the Western District, the northern Illinois delegates held a special meeting, and urged the organization of an orphan home. The next month, the other congregations in the area also supported the idea.
Meanwhile, Pastor A.G.G. Francke and Mr. Friederich Leeseberg had the opportunity to buy 54 acres to the west of the teachers seminary and sell 15 acres to the seminary. The next cost of the 39 acres to be used for the orphan home was $4, 425.
All of this activity led quickly to a meeting of congregational representatives at the teachers seminary on June 27, 1873, and the organization of the orphan home association. Pastor Francke was chose as President and Mr. Leeseberg was elected a trustee. The actual legal incorporation is dated August 13, 1873.
Opening its doors that year to six young children, the orphan home grew quickly and expanded its services over the years eventually merging with other similar agencies. In 1970, the organization officially changed its name to Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois.
In 1873, the following congregations came together to establish the German Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Home Association of Northern Illinois in Addison, which later became Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois. We are thankful for them and their dedication to serving the needs of children and families.
Original Founding Congregations
- St. Paul in Chicago, now First St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
- Trinity in Chicago, now First Lutheran Church of the Trinity
- St. John in Chicago, now closed
- Zion in Chicago, now closed
- St. James Lutheran Church in Chicago
- Bethlehem in Chicago, now First Bethlehem Lutheran Church
- Zion in Addison, now Zion Bensenville (mother church to St. Paul Addison)
- Immanuel in Proviso, now Immanuel Lutheran Church in Hillside
- St. John Harlem, now St. John Forest Park (mother church to Grace River Forest)
- St. John Rodenberg, now St. John Schaumburg
- Immanuel in Dundee, now Immanuel East Dundee
- Trinity in Crete
- St. Paul in Kankakee, now St. Paul Bourbounnais
- Cross in Yorkville
- Immanuel in Chicago, now First Immanuel
Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois has been nurturing and strengthening children and families in need for 150 years. Here are some major milestones along the way.
Founding – 1920s
1873 Fourteen congregations establish the Addison-based German Evangelical-Lutheran Orphan Home Association of Northern Illinois.
1902 The Lutheran Children’s Friend Society is established in Peoria to provide for the adoption and placement of children with families.
1908 Kinderheim is established in Chicago for children who are wards of the Cook County Juvenile Court.
1916 Kinderheim moves to the site in Addison vacated by Concordia Teachers College.
1930s – 1950s
1935 A merger between the Orphan Home and Lutheran Children’s Friend Society of Peoria brings about an openness to new ideas in child care.
1940 The Lutheran Orphan Home and the Kinderheim join to form the Lutheran Child Welfare Association (LCWA). Rev. Theodore Thormahlen is appointed executive secretary of the newly merged organization.
1947 Rev. R.A. Marquardt appointed new executive secretary.
1954 Lutheran Family Service of Chicago is organized by Lutheran Charities Foundation and Wheat Ridge Foundation.
1957 Rev. Ruben Spannaus, the first executive director with training in social work administration, is hired.
1958 Lutheran Family Service of Chicago merges with LCWA. The agency’s focus is strengthened, with five major service areas defined: services to families; unmarried mothers; adoption; foster care and residential treatment for elementary-aged children.
1959 First Central Illinois office opens in Springfield.
1960s – 1990s
1961 Lutherbrook Children’s Center in Addison is opened, and the Children’s Home ceases operation.
1966 First Southern Illinois office opens in Belleville.
1970 Agency changes its name to Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois.
1978 Gene Svebakken joins agency as executive director.
1980 LCFS begins partnering with the state to provide foster care services for DCFS.
1994 Southern Thirty Adolescent Center holds its grand opening.
1996 LCFS acquires Camp Wartburg in Waterloo.
1998 LCFS starts Intact Family Recovery Program in Chicago.
2000s – Present
2006 Regenerations program to serve dually-involved youth launches in partnership with Youth Advocate Programs.
2012 Foster care services expand by nearly 25% by opening additional offices in Northern Illinois.
2017 Mike Bertrand became LCFS’ President and CEO after the retirement of Gene Svebakken.
2017 The agency refocused its mission and as part of that process a number of programs were closed including Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center.
2018 Corporate Support Center office moved from River Forest to Oakbrook Terrace.
2019 LCFS began working to “Dismantle Systemic Racism Brick by Brick in the Child Welfare System” in order to improve outcomes for children and families of color.
2019 LCFS is honored as Innovator in supporting and serving LGBTQ youth and families for the first time by All Children – All Families (ACAF), a project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
2019 LCFS receives Council on Accreditation’s Innovative Practices Award for its Regenerations program.
2022 360 Youth Services comes under the administrative umbrella of LCFS.
2023 LCFS celebrates 150 years of impacting lives.
The lives LCFS has impacted stretch well beyond only those we’ve served, they include their families (sometime for multiple generations), our staff, our supporters and the communities in which we serve.
It is the vision of LCFS to continue working towards a world where all of God’s children have the opportunity for safe, healthy and meaningful lives. As our organization moves forward into the future, it is our hope to be a champion for change and driving force in our state to make services available to families and youth at any time they are needed.
Check out some of the stories from LCFS’ 150 years of impacting lives and be inspired by people changing their lives for the better.
- Jake & Mason’s Story
- Nala’s Story
- Nikki & Eddie’s Story
- Brayden’s Story
- The McLeod Family’s Story
- Cyvarius’ Story
If you have a story you’d like to share of how LCFS has impacted your life, please contact Director of Marketing and Communications Sara LoCoco at Sara_LoCoco@lcfs.org or 708-741-8384.
