FASD & Adoption Radio Show
I had the pleasure of being interviewed on "Blog Talk Radio" today by Dawn Davenport, author of www.creatingafamily.com and "The Complete Book of International Adoption: A Step by Step Guide to Finding Your Child".
We had an hour-long discussion about rough estimates of alcohol risk for various countries, the fetal alcohol spectrum, things to look for in a referral, how to address alcohol concerns post-adoption, and the long-term outlook. There's lots more we could have covered, but we ran out of time, so we hope to do this again in several months, focusing on post-adoption FASD issues. In general, I hope to get more audio and video presentations up on the site in coming months, including some highlights from our Raising Resilient Rascals conferences.
- Stream this interview on their site (ads and window resizing alert)
- Download as an mp3 "podcast"
- Or play it using this Flash embedded player:
Oct 1, 2008
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Reader Comments (4)
Dear Dr. Davies: I hope that you’ll be able to speak with Dawn Davenport again soon, as I think there’s so much adoptive parents need to know about raising kids with FAS...the horror stories are WAY over-represented in most of what I read when I was preparing for our first adoption, and having parented a FASD kid, I’m so happy that our son is doing well, but am left in the position of “waiting for the other shoe to drop”...is it just a matter of time before he begins having terrible behavioral problems? Or (as suggested during your interview) were most of the “secondary disabilities” that were measured in FASD kids in the earlier studies (many of which came out of U of Washington) due to the “stacking” of disabilities (maternal alcohol abuse and it’s attendant negative effect on parenting skills, poor prenatal care, emotional neglect in early childhood, low socioeconomic status/lack of access to medical care in early childhood, etc) on top of the congenital brain disorder caused by the alcohol exposure.
I am waiting for research and writing in this area to focus more attention on how these kids can best be helped. There are writers who believe this to be the number one cause of mental retardation in the US, but so much of our energies are going into developing diagnostic criteria, trying to determine how many drinks can lead to problems, etc. It really saddened me that so much of your interview was spend commenting on which countries are more likely than others to have children affected by alcohol. it’s been over 30 years since the syndrome was identified (probably longer) and I’m saddened that there seems to be so little out there in terms of therapeutic interventions.
Best regards--Ellen Liuzza
I certainly agree that it'd be nice to pick up where we left off in terms of this interview. When most of the questions are from pre-adoptive parents, you do end up talking a lot about how to avoid and diagnose FAS.
I do think that "stacking" has a lot to do with those outcomes. Unfortunately, there is stacking in international adoption as well, but luckily most children that are adopted do tend to find loving, nurturing, and stable homes. I eagerly await new adult outcomes research on children with FASDs that have been "well-held".
What's out there in terms of intervention is a collection of "promising practices", some that are actively being researched. Families Moving Forward is our clinic's effort in that direction.
I am a poster child for the other side of the story and I am desperately looking for help. I have three Latin American children, all adopted as infants. All have had problems; two of my three have disabling problems which I believe now is clearly FASD in my 23 yr old son and possibly FASD in my 18 yr old daughter. Both have been treated by psychiatrists and psychologists since grade school and were diagnosed with ADHD but their behavior and functioning are so profoundly disturbed IN SPITE OF MANY YEARS OF EXCELLENT TREATMENT that I can't help believing there is more to it than that. I've just learned about FASD and it makes total sense--but--WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT? The "treatments" I've read about don't seem much different from what I've been intuitively doing all these years anyway, and they have had medication for ADHD. Can you shed some light on this and is there any hope for either of them to have a normal life? I'd be happy with even a minimum wage fulltime job for my son at this point, and for my daughter to calm down a bit, get a part time job & graduate from HS. Both are above-normal intelligence as measured on IQ tests, and I can see that in their daily lives, when they are "on"
My husband and I are considering adopting from Russia. FASD is a huge concern for us. If we wait for a referral with no facial features, good measurements, and on target for developmental milestones, with no history from the mother, what is the likelihood that we would experience some of the extremes listed under FASD? Based on your article I would assume our chances of getting a healthy baby would be around 70%?
Thanks