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Why must children pay for the actions of their parents?
- Author:
- -
- Journal article citation:
- Addiction Today, 20(121), November 2009, p.31.
- Publisher:
- Addiction Recovery Foundation
In this short article the writer describes her experiences of bringing up her two adopted children. Both had behavioural difficulties from a young age and as they grew into teenagers alcohol abuse became a concern. Subsequently she became aware of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and believes this offers an explanation of their difficulties. The birth mother was known to be abusing alcohol and illegal drugs before the children were born. The son is currently on remand awaiting trial for violent offence, and the daughter is in danger of putting herself into threatening sexual situations if she were not living at home. Two support groups aim to raise awareness of this problem FASawareUK and NOFAS-UK. However the author found few medical experts who knew about the possible long-term consequences of FASD and also believes that statistics on the occurrence of FASD are not being collected. She suggests that the UK is giving birth to a generation of children with irreversible brain damage caused by their mother’s drinking during pregnancy who will be condemned to lead lives like those of her own children; and that almost nothing is being done to stop it.