A letter from a St. Louis Center family

Life is a Challenge. Love is the Remedy.

The most difficult thing for a parent is to leave your child in the care of someone else. We were faced with this situation almost 13 years ago when we placed Brian at St. Louis Center and it was the best decision that we have ever made for our son, our family and our life.

Our son Brian was only 11 years old. He was diagnosed with autism and ADD and he got to the point that he was uncontrollable. Our family was stressed out and often fought because Brian caused a lot of stress and tension. We loved him unconditionally, but sometimes felt like we wanted to kill him, literally. You could tell that he was unhappy, unchallenged and just plain bored. Due to this condition, he had no friends and a very small life.

We were referred to St. Louis Center by one of our son’s teachers and, of course, we were a bit hesitant about having him live outside of our home. We knew that in order for our son Brian to have any type of life he would need to be surrounded by people just like him.

Similar to parents that drop off their children at college for the first time, we had an empty feeling, leaving our son at a “group home,” our whole family was emotional and guilt set in the moment we pulled out of the parking lot. We felt like horrible parents for leaving him, but we would be even more challenged as he grew older. Brian was a handful and we knew it.

Each time got easier, leaving him, because he loved it so much. Brian had a life that we could never have given him at home. He had friends; he did chores, went on community outings and started to show signs of maturity. Although we looked forward to picking him up every other weekend, he was most excited when he was able to go back to St. Louis Center.

Our experience with the staff has been wonderful, the Priests are extremely loving and the support has been amazing. The St. Louis Center has truly changed our family’s life and for that we are grateful. The center has allowed our son to learn important life skills and has enabled him to function with little assistance. He absolutely loves living there and we trust that he is always in good hands. We would recommend the facility to anyone that has a child with a similar disability as Brian.

Again, thank you St. Louis Center for saving our life.

— The Hunt Family