OneStep4Autism, Inc. is a tax exempt 501c3 nonprofit corporation in New York State, and is on the public registry of the NYS Attorney General's Charities Bureau.

        This organization is the result of our personal experiences, life lessons, a passion to communicate with and support other families with autism. Our focus is on the many different faces of families in our communities. There are the so-called "traditional" families, single parent families, adoptive and foster families, same sex families and blended families. Each shares its own specific dynamic and experience.    

         As a step dad myself, when I met my wife many years ago, I had no idea how her two boys would change my life as well as the life of my two biological children. I realized there was much I had to learn about autism in general. After taking a "crash course" and reading several books over the next several years, our family became involved with agencies in the area. In addition to reading a lot, we discovered Special Olympics as well as other recreational programs. I was learning that my life would eventually become my career. I remember how overwhelmed my kids were when my wife and I first got together. It was difficult; being young themselves, going through their parents divorce and then learning about autism and getting to know their new siblings. Fortunately, as the relationship moved forward, we all grew together rather quickly and became a family. Now, it is my belief that we all learned empathy, acceptance and patience.       

         As a starting point to gather information, I researched and communicated with many organizations to seek statistics regarding blended families, stepparents and autism. To my surprise, there was not much information. It seems that the more I researched; more questions were identified than answers. Through it all, this "labor of love" has led me to many conclusions such as needing more data and information on all families with children who have autism and support systems to be not only in place, but be easily accessible for those in need.