A new report released after a study was conducted by the University of Manitoba claims that more and more children are being born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, (a type of brain damage suffered by a fetus while in its mother's uterus caused by the consumption of alcohol) and that the provincial governments must increase support for these children, as many end up in foster care until their adult years. Kids who are born with FASD are usually taken from their parents while very young and are more likely to spend the rest of their youth in care than other foster kids.
That leaves the provincial governments with the difficult task of preparing these children, who are developmentally delayed, and often times impulsive, to live on their own as adults. These types of programs are currently lacking in most provinces.
On social worker says that considering most 18 year olds aren't really ready to go out on their own, children with developmental disabilities need additional support.
An earlier report from the same group of researchers estimated that 17% of kids in Manitoba's child welfare system have FASD, and it is believed to be the leading cause of mental disability in Canada. These researchers are calling for more programs aimed at convincing women not to drink alcohol while pregnant similar to those put in place to help women become aware of the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
Researchers said its victims are often the children of poor mothers who suffer substance abuse and addiction.
1 comment:
sadly its true and its good that provinces are finally pushing for educating women on this problem. sadly though most of these children do fall through the cracks because even tho there are a lot of children born with FASD there are even more born with fetal alcohol effects (FAE) which can be almost just as bad but it cannot be labelled FASD until they have all of the symptoms and there isn't as much that can be done for the child and they usually suffer from learning disabilities etc. actually the time during pregnancy where most damage is done is the first couple weeks and that is the time most women don't know they are pregnant which is a problem so babies born with these disabilities are not alwasy just from drug and alcohol addicts or poor families.
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