Oesterlen Services for Youth, Inc., was founded in 1903 as the Oesterlen Orphans Home by several major synods of the Lutheran Church in Ohio. It remains affiliated today with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the present successor body of the organizing synods in 1903.
Oesterlen began transitioning into a mental health, behavioral health, and social services agency in the late 1950’s. Today’s Oesterlen offers a complete spectrum of residential, community-based, treatment foster care, home-based, and school-based therapeutic services, and the respite and resource center, serving more than 1,000 clients and families annually.