Our Mission

The mission of Bryan's House is to respond to the needs of children and their families by providing medically-managed child care, respite care, and community-based, family-centered support services.

Our History

On November 20, 1988, Bryan's House opened its doors. In June 1987, Stefanie Held and Nurse Lydia Allen recognized the need for care for HIV-infected children and were deeply concerned about the absence of such services. They created a compassionate and cost-effective response: a non-profit organization called Open Arms, Inc. In 1988 they obtained 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the IRS, leased an old two-story home, renovated it to meet licensing standards and named the facility "Bryan's House" after Lydia’s son, Bryan, who was one of the first children in the Dallas area to die from AIDS.

Originally, our home had a capacity of nine children. Since then we have expanded our facility twice. In 1990, we enlarged the original house allowing us to serve 34 children during the day and 17 overnight. In December 2000, we moved into a brand-new, one-of-a-kind facility. Our new home gives us room to grow in the future, tripling our childcare capacity and providing space for our new adolescent program.

Our Programs and Services

Recently, we have expanded our mission to include not only children and families affected by HIV/AIDS but those who suffer from other serious medical issues. Today we offer the following programs and services to around 800 children and families annually: medically-managed daytime and overnight care, on-site nursing, social work services, child development, play therapy, support groups, goods distribution, and emergency financial assistance, adopt-a-child for back-to-school, adopt-a-family for the holidays, Camp Kuumba, adolescent programming, and other services.