As a social worker, I have worked with individuals across the lifespan who have been impacted by FAS from infancy to adulthood. I have been the legal guardian to newborns suspected of FAS (and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), worked with parents with FAS and the clinician working with adults who are incarcerated with the invisible disability of FAS. It is something that all social workers must inform themselves about to be more effective in assisting clients who are impacted by FAS.
It's also important to understand that FAS is usually co-morbid with other physical, mental, social and emotional problems, such as depression, ADHD, joint and other physical problems, social incompetence and lack of boundaries, impulsivity and emotional regulation problems. When you also consider the challenging family circumstances that individuals with FAS usually experience, it is easy to think about how life can be very difficult and problematic for these individuals and that they require a level of support to function that is simply not available to most.
Babies with facial deformities and intellectual deficits nagged northern B.C. doctor
December 5, 2010.
Asante went on to become one of the first pediatricians in Canada to formally diagnose FAS in children in B.C., and was often sought out by parents desperate for answers on what was wrong with their children.
In 1985, Asante wrote the groundbreaking Report on the Survey of Children with Chronic Handicaps and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the Yukon and Northwest British Columbia. After his paper was published and news spread about this newly named disability, Asante assumed the problem would end.
FAS was entirely preventable. All doctors and government health authorities had to do was get the word out about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. Or so Asante thought.
"What I didn't factor in was the question of addiction. There are some people who could not kick their habit easily," he said.
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Funding scarce for programs that reach out to pregnant women
December 5, 2010.
The provincial and federal governments say they recognize the importance of educating pregnant women about the dangers of drinking while pregnant, but there is still no national or long-term provincial education plan focusing on prevention.
“We need an organized campaign now,“ said Dr. Sterling Clarren, CEO of the five-year-old FASD Research Network, an alliance of the four western provinces and three northern territories.
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December 6, 2010.
"People with FASD don't put two and two together. They don't get the consequences and put themselves into places they shouldn't be," she said. "We put boundaries on him and he was okay with that. He needs predictability, a routine and having structures and support. He used to say 'Mom, you know I can only do one thing at a time. You know I need an external brain.'"
People with FASD who have strong lifelong advocates to provide that external brain power are best positioned to avoid the pitfalls of the disorder and steer clear of the law, said Kee Warner, executive director of White Crow Village. Based in Nanaimo, White Crow is a non-profit organization that works to educate families, and professionals about this disability.
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Working through the guilt
December 6, 2010.
She (Janet Christie) agreed to talk publicly about being the birth mother of a child with fetal alcohol syndrome to encourage other women to get help to stop drinking while pregnant, and to try to reduce the stigma and shame felt by pregnant women who struggle with addiction.
“I don’t fit the stereotype of who people think is an alcoholic,” said Christie, who is smartly dressed and lives with her husband in a well-kept, oceanview home in Sooke.
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Janet Christie is a motivational/inspirational Public Speaker specializing in addiction, recovery and prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Janet is available to work with community agencies, government and businesses for culturually sensitive workshops, as wellas curriculum and program development relating to substance dependency and the prevention of FASD.
FASD Connections - Serving Adolescents and Adults with FASD
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – Ministry of Children & Family Development
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is the term used to describe the range of effects caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioural and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. Health Canada estimates that approximately 9 in every 1,000 infants are born with FASD.
In this section you will find info on prevention, assessment & diagnosis, and family support as well as other helpful information.
Referrals for assessment of FASD: http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/fasd/assessment.htm
Asante Centre - your information resource on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and online connection to The Asante Centre for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (POPFASD) - Ministry of Education.
Part of our mandate is to provide services through our website so that teachers, parents, students and others increase their understanding of FASD. Through consultation with teachers and other experts in the field of FASD, we use this website as a vehicle for providing information about the effects of FASD on student learning and behaviour.
WHITECROW VILLAGE FASD SOCIETY is a non-profit, charitable organisation committed to educating communities and professionals about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and to improving the lives of those who are affected by this prominent neurodevelopmental disability.
4th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
4th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
This conference will take place in Vancouver
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