About Us
When Rosemary Cottage opened its doors in April 1920, it could house 10 girls and a housemother. In 1928, they built “The Cottage”, making it a home to 19 teenage girls.

During the 1940’s, Rosemary Cottage introduced treatment services for girls and their families, made property improvements and hired a team of social workers to meet the standards of the Los Angeles and Pasadena Community Chest (The United Way).

In 1967, Robert Romberger donated the house that became Rosemary’s first group home for six girls. Rosemary then launched its group home program for troubled teen girls, the first step in teaching independent living skills to children in placement situations.

In 1970, Rosemary’s patrons made it possible to acquire a second group home. Six years later, Rosemary added a third home. Since then, Rosemary maintained and remodeled these homes, provided resources and developed programs to help teen girls.

In 2002, Rosemary acquired its fourth group home. Now the organization can help 43 at risk teen girls. Plans and fundraising efforts are underway to build a library and update the kitchen at The Cottage.

Rosemary Children’s Services is one of the oldest West Coast charities that helps boys and girls of all ages who have suffered abuse, neglect and abandonment. Its programs include a Foster Family and Adoption Agency, which helps nearly 400 children, annually, throughout Los Angeles County and portions of San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange Counties; a Non-Public School providing specialized education in a small structured environment; a Mental Health Program to provide individual and group therapy and training in various life skills; and the Residential Program which includes Rosemary Cottage and four group homes.

What's in a Name?
In the twenties, a local Pasadena Shakespearian group found a need to help children who had suffered abuse, neglect and/or abandonment. Juvenile Hall was their only alternative. So, Mrs. Emma Spear and fellow Pasadena Shakespeare Club women established a shelter program for teenage girls.

Because Spear and her fellow founders were theater members, they chose a quote from Ophelia to Hamlet to inspire the name . . . Rosemary Cottage. “...There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember.”

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