Presbyterian Children's Services
and Synod of Mid-America -- a covenant relationship

For over 80 years, Presbyterian Children's Services has dedicated itself to caring for the needs of children.

In 1914, a group of Presbyterian ministers founded Elmwood Presbyterian Orphanage (later called Presbyterian Orphanage of Missouri and Presbyterian Home for Children) in Farmington, Missouri. While the name changed through the years, services reflected the social needs of children and families during each decade.

The Potosi Presbytery and the Synod of Missouri (Presbyterian Church, U.S.) struggled to provide support for the home until 1917 when the Synod of Missouri (The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.) joined in sponsoring the orphanage. That's when the home became the Presbyterian Orphanage of Missouri -- the only Presbyterian child care facility in the nation directly related to both the southern and northern churches. It continued to be so until the reunion of the two church bodies in 1984.

The Synod of Mid-America continues to support children at Presbyterian Children's Services through the General Mission; as the relationship changed in 1994 from supporting a Mission Agency to supporting Presbyterian Children's Services in a covenant relationship based on their shared commitment to the teachings and principles of Jesus Christ, who commissioned us all to go and serve one another.