Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Information you give us.

• Get Involved forms (Suggest a Resource, Partnership Inquiry, Contact Us): your name, email address, organization and role where you provide them, and the message you write.
• Autism Family AI intake and conversation: the name you want us to use, your child’s name and age, your city, ZIP code and state, whether a diagnosis has been received, the services and help you are looking for, your priorities, your newsletter choice, and the questions and answers in your conversation with the assistant. We ask for this only after you read and accept the consent shown before the assistant starts.
• Pre-Screening for Family Support: your answers about one child and the Family Support Summary built from them. In the current version these are stored only in your own browser on your device until you choose to print, save, or email the summary.
• Newsletter: your email address, if you sign up.

Information collected automatically. Our hosting provider records standard server logs (such as IP address, browser type, pages requested, and the time of the request) to run and protect the site. We do not use advertising cookies or sell data to ad networks. [Owner to confirm: analytics tool, if any, and its cookie use.]

2. How we use information

• To respond to your messages, resource suggestions, and partnership inquiries.
• To run the Autism Family AI assistant, give you an answer, and save your intake and conversation so our team can review it and follow up where you asked us to.
• To prepare a summary of each AI conversation for our records and for follow-up with you.
• To send the newsletter if you opted in. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.
• To keep the site secure, prevent abuse, and understand which pages are useful.
• To meet legal obligations.

We do not sell personal information. We do not use your information for advertising. We never use information about a child for any purpose other than the support you asked for.

3. Autism Family AI and automated processing

The assistant answers autism-related questions only. Your conversation is processed by an artificial-intelligence service provider under a contract that restricts use of your data to providing the service to us. [Owner to confirm provider name and that the provider does not train its models on this data.] Answers are general educational information, not diagnosis or treatment advice. A member of our team may read conversations and summaries to improve answers, check safety, and follow up.

4. Who we share information with

• Service providers that help us run the site and respond to you: website hosting, database storage, email delivery, and the AI service described above. They may use your information only to provide services to us.
• At your direction. If you ask us to send your Family Support Summary or information to a provider, school, or someone else, we will share it with that recipient only.
• Legal reasons. If required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of a person or of Autism Family.
• Organizational changes. If Autism Family merges with or transfers its operations to another nonprofit, your information may be transferred under the same protections.

We do not share personal information with the organizations listed in our Resources or Marketplace sections unless you ask us to.

5. Children’s privacy

This website is for adults: parents, caregivers, autistic adults, educators, and professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. Information about a child is provided by that child’s parent or legal guardian for the purpose of the support they request. If you believe a child has given us information directly, contact us and we will delete it.

6. How long we keep information

• Get Involved messages: [owner to set, e.g. 24 months] after our last contact with you.
• AI intake, conversations, and summaries: [owner to set] from the date of the conversation, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
• Newsletter address: until you unsubscribe.
• Pre-Screening answers stored in your browser: until you delete them on the Pre-Screening page or clear your browser data.
• Server logs: [owner to confirm with the hosting provider].

We may keep information longer when the law requires it, and we may keep de-identified information that no longer identifies you.

7. Security

We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), restricted staff access, and reputable hosting and database providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by law.

8. Your choices and rights

• Access, correction, and deletion. You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you or your child, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. We will verify your identity before acting on the request.
• Newsletter. Unsubscribe using the link in any email or by contacting us.
• Pre-Screening data on your device. Use the Delete control on the Pre-Screening page.
• State privacy rights. Residents of California and other U.S. states with privacy laws may have additional rights, including the right to know what information is collected and the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context advertising. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

To make a request, contact us using the details in section 11.

9. Links to other websites

Our pages link to government agencies, nonprofits, clinical centers, research studies, and other websites. Those sites have their own privacy practices, and we are not responsible for them. A link does not imply affiliation or endorsement.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the website grows (for example, when the Marketplace opens). We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date. If a change materially affects how we use information you already gave us, we will tell you by email or by a notice on the site.

11. How to contact us

Autism Family
[Postal address — owner to add]
[Privacy contact email — owner to add]

You can also use the Contact Us form.