Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Care Proceedings

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Care Proceedings.
Care Proceedings are brought for many different reasons, but the underlying principle is that the children are suffering, or are at risk of suffering significant harm.

One of the issues that features in many cases, in one form or another is misuse of alcohol. If  a parent is under the influence, a child is likely to be at risk of significant harm.

According to the Government, in England, among people aged 15 to 49 years, alcohol is the leading cause of ill-health, disability, and death. Alcohol misuse across the UK is a significant public health problem with major health, social and economic consequences, estimated at between £21 and £52 billion a year. Each year there are over 1 million admissions to hospital for alcohol-related conditions.

We are reminded that to keep safe, it is best to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over 3 days or more.

Those who are pregnant should not drink at all

So what does a Unit look like?

Many clients undergo Hair Strand testing and are shocked to be told that they are classed as ‘chronic excessive’ consumers of alcohol. The reason why is because at home, we do not measure our drinks, and the glasses we use tend to be all different shapes and sizes. In my experience, when I ask a client to show me how much they pour themselves, using water, and then measure it, it is usually 3 or 4 times a pub measure.

How does this relate to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?

It links in two ways.

The first is that we are seeing more children who are affected by this, or are at risk of being affected because of the consumption of alcohol throughout pregnancy.

A report by Andrew Trathern, (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-health-needs-assessment/fetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-health-needs-assessment, n.d.) a Public Health registrar based at the Department of Health and Social Care, sets out the characteristics we know that alcohol can have an affect during development and throughout life:

motor skills
neuroanatomy or neurophysiology
cognition
language
academic achievement
memory
attention
executive function, including impulse control and hyperactivity
affect regulation
adaptive behaviours, social skills or social communication

Whilst in some cases there are recognisable facial features, this is a small number (according to this report, less than 10%)

So, if you have a parent who has misused alcohol throughout pregnancy, there may not be obvious outward signs of FASD early on, and so potential adopters will need to be made aware of possible issues in later years.

It also impacts on a parents’ ability to care for a child with FASD.

According to National FASD organisation, mothers were in vulnerable groups:

95% of birth mothers had mental health issues, 90% had experienced physical/sexual abuse, 60% were below the poverty line and 77% had PTSD.

Therefore, the levels of support they will require are varied and complex.
1. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: health needs assessment – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
2. Social care workers – National FASD

The second, is for parents who have FASD.
These parents could have a wide range of diagnoses, which could include:

ADHD
Autism
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Anxiety
Depression
Borderline Personality Disorder
They may never have had a specific diagnosis of FASD.

Without support they may be at risk of:

Grooming (CSE, County lines)
Mate crime
Cuckooing
Mental Health
Criminality
Unemployment
Homelessness

Any Cognitive/Capacity assessment should be undertaken by someone who is cognizant in FASD. Any Parenting assessment should take into account the specific needs of the parent, and should look at the specific support that the parent would need to care for their child with support. Just because there is a disability.