about austin children's shelter

The Austin Children’s Shelter is an emergency shelter offering a safe haven for children who are removed from their homes due to life-threatening abuse or neglect.  The children who come through our doors are traumatized, hurt, angry and despondent.  Since 1984, ACS has provided the high quality care and critical services they need to begin the healing process including individual and group therapy, medical and dental care, and educational assistance.  The individual attention given to the needs of each child helps them to feel safe while re-building their self-esteem.  Our goal is to reduce the emotional trauma suffered by child victims of abuse and neglect and to lay a foundation of hope for a better future.

Established in 1984, in its original state as the Austin-Travis County Shelter for Infants and Children, the Shelter relied on house parents who could care for fewer than 10 children.  As the agency grew to meet the needs of abused and neglected children in Central Texas, the facilities, staff and services increased.  Today, ACS provides care in a home-like environment on a new campus that will allow us to care for up to 78 children at a time.  

As we look to the future, it is with the vision that we will, one day, be able to care for every child who needs our services. We believe that we, as an agency and as a community, cannot turn our backs on our most valuable, and most vulnerable, resource - our children.

Learn more about our expansion.

Read about our history.