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Province to double FASD clinic space

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 05/12/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

The province will double the capacity of a successful Winnipeg fetal alcohol spectrum disorder support program, while boosting efforts to diagnose the condition in rural and northern communities.

Children and Youth Opportunities Minister Kevin Chief announced Friday funding for provincial services to address FASD will reach $13.3 million this year, $500,000 more than last year.

At a news conference, he said some of the new money will be used to double the reach of a local program that gives parents of young kids with FASD a monthly respite day as it works with the children on behavioural issues.

The program, offered through the Rehabilitation Centre for Children on Wellington Crescent, will now see 36 kids a month in Winnipeg, up from 18. The target ages of kids are from three to 12. Kids are usually seen in groups of three, and the program is so much fun at least one child nags his adopted mom about when the next session will take place.

"When do I go for my program?" six-year-old Evan often asks, said his mom, Kristyn Fontaine. She has looked after him since birth.

Fontaine said FASD will be "a lifetime struggle" for Evan, who is enrolled in kindergarten at Dufferin School. He has meltdowns, for which he gets sent to his room until he calms down. He also has other conditions along with FASD that, Fontaine said, are beginning to emerge and will need to be assessed.

"We love him to bits. He is our little sweetheart," Fontaine said of Evan. She has also adopted two girls, aged eight and six months, who were born to the same mother. The older girl does not have FASD; Fontaine doesn't yet know if the younger girl does.

The money announced Friday will be used for a number of projects that address awareness and prevention, diagnosis, intervention and support as well as community engagement and research.

The projects include support for The Mothering Project, a new drop-in program to be launched next year that will offer a variety of supports for women who use substances and are pregnant or have young children.

Dr. Sally Longstaffe, medical director of the Manitoba Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Centre, said research shows programs, for example, that target "highly functioning" young women who binge drink on weekends can be effective in reducing FASD.

The province is setting up regional rural diagnostic clinics to target FASD. "The goal is to reach out to the whole province," Longstaffe said Friday.

Global studies have shown FASD is more widespread than originally thought, she said. "The issue of FASD is everywhere."

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 12, 2012 A16

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