Founded in 1790 as the Charleston Orphan House, Carolina Youth Development Center’s mission is to assist children in reaching their full potential as healthy and well-adjusted individuals by delivering a continuum of prevention, assessment, intervention, and treatment services.

Originally located in downtown Charleston, the multiple programs of the Orphan House included an educational system, believed to have been one of the first in South Carolina; a kindergarten, the first in South Carolina and one of the first in the nation; and early efforts at foster family care. 

The Orphan House was world renowned as a childcare institution.  Distinguished visitors included George Washington, Generals Pierre de Beauregard and Robert E. Lee, Presidents James Monroe, Grover Cleveland and William Howard Taft.  Hundreds of children were served over the years, with a peak enrollment of 334 children coming shortly after the Civil War.

In 1951 the Commissioners of the Orphan House purchased 37 acres in North Charleston, known as Oak Grove Plantation, to relocate the children to a more home-like setting. 

For 220 years later, the Charleston Orphan House operated as an agency of the City of Charleston.  In 1978 it became an independent non-profit organization known as Carolina Youth Development Center (CYDC), and continues to serve children through ten residential and outreach programs.

Accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) continuously since 1980, CYDC is a funded partner of Trident United Way, and a member of Child Welfare League of America and the South Carolina Association of Children’s Homes and Family Services.