Guides/Website Links
Below is a selection of guides, videos, books and other helpful links that we think you might find helpful. If you find anything else that you would like to share with others please email us a link.
Could it be FASD?
Brochure that describes the physical and cognitive effects present in FASD people. See this link for brochure.
Source: http://www.fan.org.nz/downloads
FASD is a brain-based condition
Source: POPFASD (Canada) https://www.fasdoutreach.ca
Caregiver Guide to Diagnosis – CanFASD: Download
Information for Police
Oranga Tamariki Practice Centre on FASD: https://practice.
In Saskatchewan Canada, a group of dedicated parents came together to form the FASD Network (the Network) in response to the lack of services available for families impacted by FASD https://www.
FASD free online training NZ – https://www.tepou.co.nz/disability-workforce/fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-fasd/239Brain, behaviour and criminal justice
Brain, behaviour and criminal justice – Safe and Effective Justice Jan 2020: “Identifying a brain injury or developmental difference isn’t about making excuses for bad behaviour, but a better understanding will help us target more effective interventions to those who need it – especially at younger ages.”
https://www.safeandeffectivejustice.govt.nz/news/latest-news/brain-behaviour-and-criminal-justice-was-teina-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/
NOFASD Australia has launched the Australian Foundations in FASD online training course, Australia’s newest, evidence-based FASD course. Funding for the project, came through the National Disability Insurance Scheme and supported by the Australian Government, Department of Health, through their support of the NOFASD website. The Collaboration means the course is FREE! You can watch the 45 second introduction video here or enrol now via the NOFASD Website.
Relevant Website Links
Alcohol Healthwatch
http://www.ahw.org.nz
Fetal Alcohol Network NZ website
http://www.fan.org.nz/
Fact sheets on FASD and strategies
http://www.alac.org.nz/pregnancy.aspx
A Canadian website focused on primary prevention strategies
http://www.beststart.org/apcampaign/
A Centre specializing in FASD assessments and family resources
http://www.asantecentre.org/
A pot-pouri of everything you ever wanted to know about FASD from advocate Theresa Kellerman
http://www.come-over.to/FASCRC/
A website of FASD family advocates for worldwide connection and prevention
http://www.fasworld.com/
A peer reviewed journal of FASD research
http://www.motherisk.org/FAR/
The National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the UK (affiliated to NOFAS USA)
http://www.nofas.org/
The University of Washington Fetal Alcohol Drug Unit
http://depts.washington.edu/fadu/
Canada FASD Research Network – Know FASD
https://knowfasd-webpro.ualberta.ca/
Note : FASD-CAN bears no responsibility for the content or advice that may be on these pages, they have been included here for your reference.
Videos
Below is a selection of videos that we have found helpful. If you find any more that you would like to share with others please email them to us.
Families recount FASD impacts.
Thank you to Attitude Live.
Justice for FASD
Thank you to Attitude Live
FASD Awarenwss Webinars
FASD Hub Australia and partners held the first webinar of a series to mark FASD Awareness. It was a triumph and humbling to hear from courageous people sharing a ton of insights. A definite theme emerged, ‘FASD diagnosis bring people out of the darkness and into the light’. A huge thank you to the mums and young people in particular who shared their experiences so others can learn and the hard working team who put it all together. We recommend you take the time to view and listen when you can https://www.fasdhub.org.
TVNZ Sunday
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/sunday/clips/bottled-shame
Living with FASD
Listen now (Link will open in new window)
Thursday 12 April 2018 9:06AM (view full episode)
When Anne Russell had her children more than thirty years ago, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy was considered acceptable.
As a teenager, her son Seth was diagnosed with having Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), and it’s affected every aspect of his life. Yet diagnosis and treatment for both children and adults can still be elusive.
We hear from Anne Russell, founder of awareness and support group RFFADA, and Dr Doug Shelton a paediatrician who specialises in FASD at Gold Coast Health, about what more needs to be done to prevent, diagnose and treat these disorders, which are estimated to occur in at least five per cent of the population.
Books
Books are very helpful in understand something as complex as FASD. Here we have complied a few titles that we have found useful. If you have read a book recently that you think might be of help to others, please email us the title, a short description and where the book can be purchased.
When Rain Hurts
An Adoptive Mother’s Journey with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
When Rain Hurts is the story of one mother’s quest to find a magical path of healing and forgiveness for her son, a boy so damaged by the double whammy of prenatal alcohol abuse and the stark rigors of Russian orphanage life that he was feral by the time of his adoption at age three. Bizarre behaviors, irrational thoughts, and dangerous preoccupations were the norm—no amount of love, it turns out, can untangle the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. More people are coping with and caring for those affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders than individuals living with autism, but because there is a stigma associated with this preventable, devastating birth defect, it is a pandemic of disability and tragedy that remains underreported and underexplored. When Rain Hurts puts an unapologetic face to living and coping with this tragedy while doggedly searching for a more hopeful outcome for one beautiful, innocent, but damaged little boy.
Author: Mary Evelyn Greene
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: True story
The Broken Cord
A Family’s Ongoing Struggle With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
A skilled writer and expert on Native Americans tells the deeply moving story of his adopted son Abel, who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Author: Michael Dorri
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: True story
The Perfect Love Story
Healing the Scars of FASD with our Love
This publication was designed as a ‘quick read’ (just 73 pages) for service providers, educationalists and health professionals and those living with FASD. It is an intensely personal story written by Claire Gyde to provide insight into family life when Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is part of the journey. The author acknowledges that many of the issues they have personally experienced are not unique in the adolescent world of FASD, and many other parents and caregivers will instantly identify with much of what has been written. The story includes disrupted school experiences, substance use, criminal activity and mental health issues. But, as the title suggests, woven through this personal recount is a love story, how one mother’s love for her son keeps her on an impassioned path to make the world a brighter place for him and those like him.This is a story based in New Zealand.
Author: Claire Gyde
Avaliable From: FASD-CAN using the Membership Form, or contact our Secretary
Genre: True story
Trying Differently Rather Than Harder
This book provides a readable, narrative discussion of the neurobehavioral approach for working effectively with children, adolescents and adults with FASD. After a brief review of the diagnosis, the focus is on understanding behaviors differently – primary and secondary learning and behavioral characteristics. One section explores the most common behavioral symptoms by providing case examples, interventions, and improved outcomes. The neurobehavioral approach in Trying Differently Rather Than Harder is illustrated by stories of how alternative interventions lead to less frustration.
Author: Diane Malbin
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: Non Fiction
Damaged Angels
Part heartfelt memoir, part practical guide, Damaged Angels recounts Bonnie Buxton’s struggles to raise an adopted daughter whom she didn’t realize was afflicted with fetal alcohol disorder. Her book also offers guidance to parents who have children with FASD. By the time Bonnie’s daughter Colette hit first grade, her parents were coping with her frequent stealing and lying, and the necessity of special education. At fourteen, she discovered drugs and sex; by eighteen, she was a crack addict living on the streets. After many frustrating years consulting numerous therapists, a TV news story gave Bonnie the answer she was looking for — and sent her on a quest for a diagnosis and help for Colette. Damaged Angels can aid and comfort all those affected by FASD — the most common cause of intellectual impairments in most industrialized nations — and reduce the number of babies born with this disorder in the future. The most important book on fetal alcohol disorder since Michael Dorris’s The Broken Cord, Damaged Angels is a book for every parent, practitioner, and teacher working with a child with FASD.
Author: Bonnie Buxton
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: Non Fiction
Fantastic Antone Grows Up
Adolescents and Adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
For every 1,000 live births in Alaska, between 2.1 and 6.6 babies are affected by FAS–a rate 6 to 18 times higher than the national average. Fantastic Antone Succeeds!describes in concrete, specific ways how to educate children with fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effects (FAS/FAE). It communicates an optimistic message that is both true and appealing: with the right education, delivered by a nurturing individual in the home or in the school, many alcohol-affected children thrive.
The book consists of separate chapters written in a popular and accessible style by psychologists, teachers, and birth and adoptive parents of alcohol-affected children. Many chapters are personal stories with emotional power. A birth mother, for example, tells of her anguish when she realizes that she has recovered from her own alcoholism but her daughter cannot. This mother describes how she dealt with her grief, how she told her daughter the truth, her daughter’s relief at finally understanding what was wrong, and how they both developed ways of overcoming her daughter’s learning problems.
Author: Judith Kleinfeld
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: Non Fiction
Moment to Moment
Perspectives on FASDs in Adolescence
Young people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders suffer a wide range of disabilities − physical, emotional, and developmental − due to their prenatal exposure to alcohol. The interventions and treatment they require cover an even broader range. This book, Moment to Moment: Perspectives on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Adolescence, is designed for families and professionals who provide care, treatment, and social services to adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. It provides detailed information about the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure and provides further insight into the reasons behind the children’s behaviors.
Experts from the fields of pediatrics, child psychology, social services, education, and more share their perspectives on challenges caregivers face as they provide for adolescents who have been affected by their biological mothers’ use of alcohol during pregnancy. Each chapter is designed to shine new light on a distinct angle of FASDs, including the important perspective of a parent who has guided her daughter into young adulthood.
As authors, we seek to educate all who can prevent FASDs and those dedicated professionals who treat children with FASDs. But ultimately, we hope that this book and the related Moment to Moment documentary and presentation will help everyone look beyond the behaviors we see and to understand the source and purpose of those behaviors as children with FASDs struggle to deal with a world they have difficulty comprehending.
Author: Ira Chasnoff
Avaliable From: Amazon
Genre: Non Fiction
In Dark Places
Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-Cop’s Fight for Justice
Teina Pora, a 17-year-old car thief, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Susan Burdett, who had been beaten to death with the softball bat she kept next to her bed for her own protection. Tim McKinnel, en ex-cop turned private investigator, discovered the long forgotten case 18 years later, saw an injustice had been done and set out to win Teina’s freedom. Reaching from the mean streets of South Auckland to the highest court in the Commonwealth, this is the story not just of Tim’s quest, but also of how an innocent man who was left rotting in a prison cell for two decades found the inner strength to rise above the dark places to which he had been condemned.
Author: Michael Bennet
Avaliable From: The Children’s Book Shop
Genre: Non Fiction
School
Information for School
This is for all parents with kids at school. This ‘Intro to Teachers‘ is designed to help broadly explain FASD to school / teachers as well as provide space for you to personalise and add individual comments that might be useful in getting teachers to know you and your child.
Media / Press
Below is a selection of media and press articles that have been published on FASD.
10 September 2020
July 19 2020
Aug 2018 News Article – Alcohol Warning.
Foetal Alcohol damaging babies brains – Sunday 19th August 2018 audio documentary
NEWS MEDIA ARTICLE: May 2018 – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12057522
INTERVIEW: May 2018 – http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018640721/foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-lacking-recognition
New Zealand Herald article
Campaign ups the ante on drinking during pregnancy: ‘No alcohol means no risk to your baby’, May 2018
RNZ Interview
Foetal Alcohol Spectrum disorder lacking recognition, May 2018
INTERVIEW: April 2018 – https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/anita-gibbs-medical-bracelet-could-help-understanding-on-fetal-alcohol-behaviour/
NEWS MEDIA ARTICLE: April 2018 – http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1804/S00099/damning-report-on-youth-detention-in-wa.htm
LINKS + RESOURES support page too:
Video April 2018 (Australia): – http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/the-long-tail-of-fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder/9640248
Scoop article
Damning Report on Youth Detention in WA, April 2018
Newstalk Interview with Anita Gibbs
Bracelet could help understanding on fetal alcohol behaviour, April 2018
RNZ Interview
“System ‘set up to fail’ people with neuro-disabilities [Like FASD], May 2016
Governments Must Act on Alcohol-Effected Babies
Queensland FASD Support Group March 2015
Other
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Confabulation
Dr Valerie McGinn PhD (May 2013)
Ministry of Health:
Taking action on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder 2016-2019: An Action Plan
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the umbrella term used to describe the range of effects that can occur when a fetus is exposed to alcohol during pregnancy.
This action plan aims to create a more effective, equitable and collaborative approach to FASD. It is a cross-agency commitment designed to build on the work that is already under way by providing coordinated support to those on the frontline of this issue.
Articles
Below is a selection of articles.
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Effective helping responses from social workers. 2018
Anita Gibbs, University of Otago, New Zealand
Kerryn Bagley, La Trobe University, Australia
Dorothy Badry, University of Calgary, Canada
Vicky Gollner, Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, New Zealand