SP ONSOR SP OTLIGHT
AUSOME INDY
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usome Indy is a volunteer led, public nonprofit providing life changing access to resources for children and families with autism in Indiana. Supported by the generosity of individual donors and small businesses, we provide sensory tools, safety and communication equipment, sensory events and experiences, and a safe space for mothers and caregivers to find friendship, support and resources. Ausome Indy was co-founded by my sister Ellen Miller and me. As we were growing up in the 1980s, our mother taught special education for Indianapolis Public Schools. She was one of the first in Indiana to serve as a Guardian-at-litem (GAL). GALs are individuals who advocate for a child in court proceedings. She was also a foster parent to over a dozen children.
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November 2023
Our mother was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disease, and passed away in 2016. My son, Beau, was diagnosed with autism in 2017 at the age of two and a half. As our family processed his ASD Level 3 diagnosis, we felt our hearts drawn to the many children and families in Indiana who are living at or below poverty level, experiencing unpredictable life transitions such as foster care or kinship care, and the complexity of challenges that accompany keeping a child with autism safe and nourished under those circumstances. As a tribute to our mother’s love for children, her relentless pursuit of the safety and reunification of troubled families, and in celebration of the way Beau perceives the world, we launched Ausome Indy as an official 501c3 organization in 2019.
We currently offer the following program services: • Ausome Kiddo Referrals individualized sensory support for children. • Sensory Kits - small, portable fidget kits for children to use at school, in meetings, during transitions, etc. • Ausome Experiences and Events - sensory spaces inside DCS offices and sensory friendly events for the public. • Ausome Moms - connecting and supporting moms and caregivers of children with autism. We know that children with autism are nearly three times more likely to be in foster care, and they often have longer stays in the system, more housing transitions, and less reunification with family. Here in Indiana, our foster care
