The Teichens

Walt and Kathy Teichen live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. They adopted their son, Kevin, when he was 3 days old. He was in Special Education from first grade through high school. After the structure of school was over he started getting into trouble. He had been evaluated all along as having ADHD. Kathy felt they should get Kevin re-evaluated, so they did this in June of 2001. That is when the Teichens found out that he was born with a form of FASD.

Kevin was arrested June of 2001 for retail theft, and then spent 5 months in jail as they tried finding services for him. There were no services offered by the state of Illinois so Walt and Kathy sent him to Teen Challenge in Iowa where he lasted for 2 months, then into another Christian program outside of Chicago, where he lasted for 3 months. Kevin came home in August 2002, and lived with his parents until December 2002, when he was arrested for felony burglary. He spent another 5 months in jail before he was sent to His Mansion in New Hampshire, where he lasted for 5 weeks.

In August 2003, Kevin came home and lived there until he was arrested June 2004 for felony credit card theft. He stayed in jail for 3 months until he was released to a residential program in a southwestern suburban community in September 2004.

Since there are NO services for individuals with FASD in the Chicago area, the Teichens have started a Christian Ministry that will be providing a structured 24 hour environment for men. This program will provide the structure, services and training, so these individuals in the hope that they can obtain some social, vocational, and living skills. Please visit Know Him Ministry at www.knowhimministry.org to find more information.