A SINGLE mother with an autistic son has launched what she believes is the UK's first Internet dating site for parents of children with special needs.

Jane Stooks, 43, of Clifton, near Banbury, said potential partners were scared off when she revealed her nine-year-old son George had severe autism.

Ms Stooks, who divorced George's father three years ago, said being a single parent could be difficult under any circumstances, but was made extra tough for those with children needing extra care.

So she and two friends set up a new dating website with a dedicated section for parents of youngsters with special needs.

Ms Stooks, who launched the website last week, said: "I, as a single mother, was fed up of that initial thing of explaining to anyone I met on other dating sites that I had a special needs child.

"We're not segregating these parents - it is a typical online dating site - but there is that facility for parents of special needs children to meet each other."

Ms Stooks, who met her new partner online, said she became exasperated after spending three years meeting men who were not interested in dating the mother of a youngster with special needs.

She said: "I didn't give it much time before I said my son was autistic.

"I thought there was no point continuing to chat to people on those sites if they were going to run a mile - and to be honest, about 60 per cent of them did.

"It doesn't surprise me, but it worries me for other single parents out there who want to meet someone.

"No one has ever been derogatory but they say 'It must be hard' or 'It must be tough' and you don't hear from them again.

"It's very demoralising."

Doctors told Ms Stooks her son's severe autism meant she should enrol him in residential care - but instead she decided to sign him up to the £60,000 Son Rise programme in America to help treat the condition.

She now works as a consultant to help other families of autistic children learn how to treat the condition through play therapy.

And George attends mainstream education part-time at Finmere Primary School near Bicester.

For more information on Ms Stooks's dating site see www.reach4romance.co.uk