Hennepin County has ended criminalizing fetal alcohol birth mothers with the hopes of better results by recommending treatment instead of mandatory programs and prosecution for failure. It’s a contentious issue.
The low estimates of Fetal Alcohol (FASD) Births in America are 2% to 5% of 3.67 million (born annually) or 73,000 to 183,000. The higher estimates of the same study range from 3.1% to 9.85% or 113,770 to 361,495. These numbers do not include Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (withdrawal from narcotics babies) about 32,000 children each year.
8% of women report drinking during pregnancy.
Without significant investment, this policy change could add to the number of children suffering from the poverty and sadness common to this population.
As a hopeful person, close to this topic, I hope resources will be made available to reverse these decades long trends of substance abuse births and the lifetime of suffering that comes with it. But the politics and public sentiment have not been with me (or the mothers or their children) on this.
As a pragmatist that follows public policy, I fear the next negative budget cycle and the reduction in programs that will be needed to support troubled moms and the vulnerable children we all claim to care about.
The hard news below includes Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota comments on this and costs, traits, and common behavior problems facing Fetal Alcohol children and the adults they become.
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Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) exhibit a range of common traits that can affect their cognitive, behavioral, and physical development. These traits can vary widely among individuals but generally include the following:
Cognitive and Learning Difficulties
- Learning Difficulties: Children with FASD often struggle with learning and may not progress at the same rate as their peers.
- Cognitive Processing Deficits: Their thinking processes can be slowed, and they may only grasp parts of information or instructions.
- Difficulty with Abstract Thinking: Challenges with subjects like mathematics, money management, and understanding time.
- Inconsistent Memory and Performance: They may remember or perform tasks one day but forget them the next.
Behavioral Traits
- Impulsiveness: Acting without thinking, which can lead to risky behaviors.
- Disorganization and Distractibility: Easily distracted and having trouble organizing their thoughts and actions.
- Attention/Hyperactivity: Many children with FASD are diagnosed with ADHD due to their hyperactive and inattentive behaviors.
- Difficulty with Social Relationships: Trouble making and keeping friends, and often socially immature compared to their peers.
- Explosive Behavior: May exhibit aggressive outbursts or run away when stressed (fight or flight response).
- Inappropriate Sexual Behavior: Engaging in behaviors that are not age-appropriate or socially acceptable.
Physical and Developmental Delays
- Developmental Delays: Their brain development is often younger than their chronological age, leading to delays in reaching developmental milestones.
- Physical Traits: Infants with FASD may be born prematurely, have low birth weight, and exhibit physical anomalies such as cleft palate or other birth defects.
Social and Emotional Characteristics
- Difficulty Understanding Consequences: They may not learn from mistakes or understand the outcomes of their actions.
- Perseveration: Getting stuck in a thought pattern or action and finding it difficult to move on.
- Overly Affectionate: Sometimes too affectionate or lacking appropriate boundaries with strangers.
Strengths of Children with FASD
Despite these challenges, children with FASD often have notable strengths:
- Highly Verbal: Good at expressing themselves verbally.
- Artistic and Creative: Many have talents in art, music, or other creative pursuits.
- Friendly and Outgoing: They can be very social and affectionate, often showing a great deal of loyalty and commitment.
- Energetic and Hardworking: They often have lots of energy and do not give up easily.
Understanding these traits and focusing on the strengths of children with FASD can help caregivers and educators provide better support and create more effective interventions to help these children thrive.
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)
- Prevalence: Annually, approximately 6 out of every 1,000 births in the U.S. are affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition caused by withdrawal from certain drugs the baby was exposed to in the womb. This translates to about 24,000 infants born with NAS each year.
- Trends: The incidence of NAS has increased dramatically over recent years, largely due to the opioid crisis.
Substance Exposure
- Cannabis: In Maine, data shows that 57% of babies born substance-exposed had cannabis as the primary substance. This indicates a significant number of births affected by cannabis exposure.
- Opioids: Another 21% of babies born substance-exposed in Maine had prescribed Methadone or Buprenorphine as the primary substance. These medications are often used to treat opioid use disorder.
- Other Substances: The remaining 21% were exposed to other prescribed and illegal substances, including methamphetamine, cocaine, oxycontin, amphetamines, barbiturates, and others.
Broader Substance Abuse
- Polysubstance Exposure: About 40% of pregnant women who report current alcohol use also report using one or more other substances, most commonly tobacco and marijuana. This indicates a broader issue of polysubstance exposure during pregnancy.
The lifetime costs associated with raising a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are substantial. Here are some key estimates:
- Lifetime Cost Estimates: The individual lifetime costs of FASD can be as high as $2.5 million per person. This figure includes various direct and indirect costs associated with healthcare, special education, residential care, productivity losses, and other services.
- Annual Costs: The mean annual cost for children with FASD is estimated to be $22,810, while for adults it is approximately $24,308. These costs reflect the ongoing need for medical care, educational support, and other services throughout the individual’s life.
- Comparative Costs: The annual cost of care for a person with FASD exceeds those for other conditions such as autism ($17,000) and asthma ($3,100), highlighting the significant economic burden of FASD.
- Cost Components: The costs include a wide range of services such as hospitalization, ambulatory care, emergency room visits, prescription drugs, addiction services, child welfare, special education, residential care, and corrections.
- Historical Context: Earlier studies have also provided high estimates. For instance, a study by Weeks in 1989 reported a lifetime cost of $1.374 million per child born with FAS, adjusted for inflation.
These estimates underscore the significant financial impact of FASD on individuals, families, and society, emphasizing the importance of prevention and early intervention efforts.
KARA reports on the issues of invisible children
This article submitted by
Former CASA Guardian Ad Litem Mike Tikkanen
