Hebrew Infant Asylum of the City of New York records

"To receive and take charge of infants in cases where parent or parents are dead or unable or incompetent to afford to the infant the nursing and attention which they merit, and to care for their religious, physical and moral training." -Hebrew Infant Asylum Society, 1892.

The origins of the Hebrew Infant Asylum can be traced back to Mrs. Solomon [Esther Hellman] Wallenstein, a member of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society. She and other concerned New Yorkers recognized a a lack of proper housing for the city's abandoned Jewish children below the age range of orphanage admittance.

In 1892 she engaged the help of the United Hebrew Charities of the City of New York, and created an informal committee to tackle this problem. Two weeks later, the committee coalesced into the Hebrew Infant Asylum Society, with Wallenstein as President.

The Society mailed circulars to members of already-existing charitable organizations, collected second-hand clothing for infants for distribution among the poor, and placed several infants with families at the Society's expense.

On April 17, 1895 the Society obtained a charter, established membership dues, and secured a location at 149th/Mott Ave for the children's shelter.

Wallenstein ran the Hebrew Infant Asylum until July 8, 1903, when she died at the age of 57. It changed locations several times since.

By 1942, the Asylum had merged with the Jewish Child Care Association, an organization dedicated to providing "quality services to children and their families, and the universal mandate within the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam— the responsibility of every person to make the world a better place."

Later, the Hebrew Infant Asylum, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, the Fellowship House, and the Jewish Children’s Clearing Bureau merged to become part of the Jewish Child Care Association ( the JCCA), which continues to care for thousands of children in as many foster homes.