Since 1986, the Children’s Cottage Society has been providing short-term care for children during times of family crisis. More than 50,000 children have been helped through family support programs, since the Society’s inception. The Children’s Cottage Society provides Calgary’s only two Crisis Nurseries.
- The Children's Cottage has been operating since 1986 in Calgary.
- The Child Abuse Team at the Alberta Children’s Hospital introduced the concept and Parent’s Anonymous founded the Cottage – A 24 hour Crisis Nursery
- In their judgment, the lack of relief service for families unable to cope with crisis and emergencies was a pivotal factor in child abuse. They realized a need for a service to aid vulnerable children.
- We first began in a small 6 bedroom home in SW Calgary, by the old Children’s Hospital.
- Parents Anonymous and the Children’s Cottage separate into distinct societies.
- In November 1989, we become incorporated and the Children’s Cottage Society sets out on it’s own .
- The Calgary Home Builders Foundation agrees to build a new 5,000 sq. foot Crisis Nursery in 1992. The Senator Patrick Burns Foundation agrees that revenue from the sale of the original site can be put to the cost of the new land. The Province of Alberta agrees to cover the other half of the land.
- The Bridgeland site of the Children’s Cottage opens its doors in 1994, closing it’s original location. We now have 12 spaces available to the community for children 0 - 8 years old.
- Our Community Respite Program begins in 1997.
- Healthy Families program begins in 2002 in conjunction with the Calgary Healthy Families Collaborative.
- Child Care Respite Program begins in 2005.
- In February 2009, the Children's Cottage became operators of a new family transitional shelter program, Brenda's House. 14 suites are available to families currently experiencing homelessness.
- In November 2010, the Children's Cottage opened a temporary satellite crisis nursery in the community of New Brighton. This facility provides us 6 additional crisis nursery spaces for children 0 - 2 years old.