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Our History
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In 1996, Gillis, Ozanam and Spofford began looking together toward their long term futures. Each Agency identified the need to be prepared for the 21st century family and reached the same conclusion: To best serve children and families, each needed to be a specialist, yet part of a larger team of services. During this time, Marillac was also studying the same problem and reached an identical conclusion.

The four agencies began meeting to assess the strategic advantages of developing a formal relationship among the four independent Agencies. Primary objectives and key issues facing each Agency were identified. Following extensive research and discussion, the idea for Cornerstones of Care was born. The Cornerstones' relationship allows each participating Agency to retain its unique identify, while achieving economies of scale and benefiting from the resources of the member Agencies.
Each agency can continue to do what it does best.

Highlights include:

• Cornerstones of Care gains 501(c)(3) status in 1998.
• Healthy Families Counseling and Support becomes an agency of Cornerstones of Care.
• Cornerstones contracts with the State of Missouri to provide Foster Care Case Management and Adoption Services to children and families on the western side of Missouri in September 2005.
• National Family Week Forum and Reception established in 2005 to honor child advocates chosen by each subsidiary Agency as a voice for children and families.
• Working Solutions Retention Specialists merges into Cornerstones of Care, adding employee retention services through Executive Coaching, Leadership Workshops, and Staff-Level Training in 2006.
• Cornerstones of Care receives accreditation standing from the Council on Accreditation for Services to Family and Children, and from the Joint Commission for the Children's Psychiatric Hospital (Marillac campus) in 2006.
• Denise Cross joins Cornerstones of Care as President/CEO in January 2008.
  

See our organizational structure