Category: Personal Stories

The following stories are from people who have had intimate contact with FASD.  The stories are from birth parents, foster and adoptive parents and people with FASD.  It is critical for health practitioners to read about the personal side of FASD to flesh out the clinical aspect of the condition.  The problem that people with FASD have not being able to link cause and consequence means one thing when it is written on paper but it means something completely different to parents.

Interview with Sonia Berton, rffada President

What more can Australia do to combat FASD?

  1. Acknowledge that FASD exits and to levels uncertain in Australia due to an historical reluctance to openly speak about or deal with FASD – for reasons not researched or fully established. There are plenty of theories and anecdotal stories in relation to our strong desire to ignore FASD in Australia – from the costs to service provision through to an outdated view in the alcohol and other drug sector including researchers and policy development personnel.

Our dear little man

His Nan says he looks just like a little elf and has been through so much in his short life. But she hopes that if she works hard enough and loves hard enough that her dear little man will be fine.

Survival where justice has no conscience

‘Most of the stories in this book are stories of compassion and kindness but none greater than this one. The narrator of this chapter ‘adopted’ Jack, a young indigenous youth, or as Jack would tell it, he quite determinedly ‘adopted’ her. Regardless of who adopted whom, Dr Janet Hammill not only willingly took Jack in and stayed by his side throughout challenging times with the Queensland juvenile justice system, but also chose to advocate for him and the disability from which he suffers.

Katrina’s Life

A Case Manager in the federal government’s Personal Support Programme doesn’t know what will happen to his client but believes she has almost certainly been affected prenatally by alcohol. This will probably mean that her future will be just as ravaged with complications as her past has been.

Matthew

Youth worker Vicki Russell (no relation to the author) tells a moving story of a young boy who was unable to live with his pain.

A Flawed Jewell

These two special people have not only provided a loving, caring family environment for their beautiful daughter, but now at the time when retirement offers the lure of relaxation and a break from the impact of raising four children, they have chosen to devote their time to increasing awareness of FASD in Australia.