HISTORY

The Cole-Harrington Family Child Care System began in 1988 when the Department of Social Services awarded Enable, Inc. a contract to provide family child care to twenty children from low-income families and nineteen children at-risk for abuse and neglect.  These subsidized slots were to be used by children residing in ten towns in the South Norfolk county geographic area.   

At the time Enable, Inc. was operating center based childcare for toddlers, preschool aged children and school aged children with sites located on the grounds of the Mass Hospital School and the Galvin Middle School in Canton, Mass. The Cole-Harrington Children’s Center was originally developed in 1978 to create an onsite child care program for employees that would include also young disabled children who were residents of the Mass Hospital School and children without special needs from the Canton community. The first class in this new child care program included two girls from the Mass Hospital School.  Due to medical complications they both died unexpectedly during the program’s first year. The name Cole-Harrington was created by combining the two deceased girls’ last names. 

The Cole-Harrington Toddler Preschool Program, Cole- Harrington Children’s Place, and Cole-Harrington School Age Enrichment Program continue to provide educational child care programs for children residing in Canton and its surrounding towns.  Young children with special needs now live at home with their families and attend their local public schools.  However, because of our original mission and history of serving children with special needs we take great pride in our continuing efforts to meet the child care and educational needs of all children.  We work with families and local public schools to ensure that children’s educational and medical needs are met.  Subsidized childcare for children from low income families and at-risk children is also provided at the centers through our contract with the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC).  In 2003 we created a center based program for infants and toddlers. This new program is located in Canton at our administrative offices on Neponset St.  

Since 1988 the Cole-Harrington Family Child Care System has expanded its network of providers to meet the childcare needs of families in the South Norfolk area as well as neighboring communities.  With funding from local voucher management agencies our program began to include families receiving funds from the Department of Transitional Assistance. In the early 1990’s we were awarded a contract from the Department of Social Services to provide subsidized childcare to children residing in Randolph.   Providers in the city of Brockton joined our system in the mid 1990’s and as a result of a competitive bid from the newly formed Office For Child Care Services we were awarded a contract in 1999 to provide subsidized child care to children residing in Brockton, Attleboro and Taunton their surrounding towns.  Since 1999 the Cole-Harrington Family Child Care System has been contracting with over 65 licensed family child providers from twenty different towns.  We provide child care to 170 children each day.   

The Cole-Harrington Family Child Care System is committed to working with family child care providers who share our mission of providing high quality childcare to children from low-income families and at-risk children. Our goal is to ensure that all children in need are able to access quality child care in their community.  We are open to sharing our resources and expertise with providers and offer our support through regular provider visits, monthly training workshops and on-call services.