Our History

St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities is the result of a merger between two social service agencies in 2004. Catholic Charities originally formed in 1980 and St. Elizabeth’s originated in 1989. St. Elizabeth Catholic Charities is a Catholic Charities agency of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and an affiliate of Catholic Charities USA, the largest private provider of human services in the United States.

We are proud to say that we serve all clients without regard for race, religion, gender, nationality, or ability to pay.

Early Catholic Charities

Initially, Catholic Charities was founded to provide subsidized counseling services for parishioners and parochial school students of the parishes, which make up the New Albany Deanery. Services have greatly expanded to meet the needs of the community.

In 1986, Catholic Charities was contacted by the State of Indiana to provide Semi-Independent Living services to developmentally delayed persons.

In 1987, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) became a part of Catholic Charities when the agency was selected by the late Judge Henry Leist to administer the program for the Floyd Circuit Court. CASA was expanded in 1993 when Judge Robert Bennett awarded the contract for service Washington Circuit Court to Catholic Charities.

Pregnancy Plus-Line, a pro-life, crisis pregnancy program which was founded in 1973, requested Catholic Charities assume responsibility for the program in 1988. In 1998, the program was moved to St. Elizabeth’s so all crisis pregnancy programs had one point of contact.

During 1997, in response to the urging of several child advocate groups, Catholic Charities initiated Supervised Visitation Services as a parental visitation alternative when the Courts have restricted visitation privileges to a supervised status. Under this program, supervisors are trained and contracted as needed for supervision of the parent/child visitation.

Early St. Elizabeth's

In May of 1989, St. Elizabeth’s opened as a crisis pregnancy center, committed to serving pregnant teens and women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. The original St. Elizabeth’s Home, donated by St. Mary’s Church in New Albany, has been refurbished and is still being used as an eight-bed maternity home.

St. Elizabeth’s soon offered outreach support services. These include aftercare support and adoption services to women in the residential program. St. Elizabeth’s opened its Transitional Housing Facility in May 1996 to help women get on their feet after they had their babies. The home has the capacity to house seven mothers and their child (or up to two children, under the age of 4) at any one time in mini-apartments located on campus. Mothers are allowed to live in residence for up to two years with their children. During that time the young ladies work towards their high school diploma, GED, vocational or college degree. To help foster the notion that paying one’s way is intrinsic to human dignity the aftercare residents are required to pay a fee for services, commensurate with their income, to live in the home.