Louisville, KY: Day care for autistic adults opens; "to keep up with rising need for support"
- The end of childhood
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Oct 23, 2025, Spectrum News1, Louisville, KY: New facility offers lifelong support for those with autism
A first-of-its-kind autism center is now open in Louisville, offering specialized support for young adults and filling a critical gap in care across Kentucky.
The Bluegrass Center for Autism opened the brand-new Fern Creek Adult Day Campus
BCA has a team of more than 100 dedicated professionals, providing close to 3,000 hours a week of therapy
The City of Louisville invested half of $1 million into BCA to help provide support
BCA expects to serve about 100 individuals at the new Fern Creek location
For 15 years, the Bluegrass Center for Autism has supported children and young adults. The organization celebrated the grand opening of its fourth location Wednesday. . . .
Christen Byrne, executive director, said this is the first adult day training center for adults with autism in the entire state of Kentucky.
"We had several individuals that are getting older and needing a different type of service," Byrne said. "We started looking around, really the entire state, specifically for adult day facilities that focus on autism. There just really wasn't anything."
"There [are] many wonderful adult day centers across the state, but none of them really focus on autism. Specifically, autism is a unique disorder that requires a lot of extra details to their programing."
Byrne said the new space is designed for adults who attend day programs, working in small groups with staff on social and life skills. It also offers programming for individuals to build real-world job experience to ensure every young adult can learn, grow and never age out of care. . . .
Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, said this is part of the city's broader effort to add inclusive and accessible spaces for everyone in the community.
“The Bluegrass Center for Autism has been an important lifeline for families, serving folks from ZIP codes all across our entire county and beyond," Greenberg said. "To think even with all of the service that you all are doing right now, there are still 300 families on the waiting list. That's why it's so important that we got this opened, that the city supported it and that we continue to find new ways to expand the services that you all are able to provide for families across our entire city."
Byrne said new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show autism affects one in 31 children ages 4 and 8 years old. It's a reminder, she said, of why expanding programs like this one are so important to keep up with the rising need for support. . . .
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