Murphy-Harpst Children's Centers

Description

With a tradition that dates back to 1914 MurphyHarpst is a behavioral healthcare organization offering a continuum of services designed to meet the needs of children and youth with emotional andor behavioral problems

The Harpst Campus built in the mid 1920soffers a continuum of quality services that includes residential treatment for children and youth ages 617 therapeutic foster care and community programs At the Murphy Campus community focused programs include a school for 150 four year old children who are being served through a partnership with Head Start and The Polk County Council for Children and Families Both of these centers are located in Polk County in northwest Georgia

The mission of MurphyHarpst is to provide a continuum of superior quality outcome focused preventive and therapeutic services addressing the emotional physical educational and spiritual needs of children and families in a steadfast effort to help all become selfsufficient contributing members of society

History

History
MurphyHarpst has a rich tradition of caring for children that grew from two homes founded more than 70 years ago

In 1914 Ethel Harpst was assigned by the Womens Home Mission Society of the Methodist Church to teach children conduct worship and care for the sick in rural Georgia In 1924 the society established the Ethel Harpst Center located on 160 wooded acres in Cedartown Georgia to support her work

Several years later in 1931 Sarah D Murphy a Spelman College student born to former slaves established a school at the edge of Cedartown for poor AfricanAmerican children Then in response to the plight of so many of her students abandoned by their parents Sarah transformed her school into an orphanage After her death in 1961 the national Womens Division of the Methodist Church took over the Sarah Murphy home

In 1984 the two homes merged into MurphyHarpst Childrens Centers MurphyHarpst continues the visions of Sarah Murphy and Ethel Harpst as a place where children with no alternatives are welcomed and given hope