Foetally Affected Children's Service

With our recent joining together with Parents for Children (PfC) (see our "Who we are" section) we are now able to offer training in the area of foetally alcohol affected children. As well as group training, TACT can offer individual training to specific carers who may be looking after a child with this condition.

The Foetally Affected Children's Service (FACS) team is made up of an ‘actual’ team of social workers, psychologist and support worker employed by TACT and ‘virtual’ additional experts including a consultant paediatrician, play therapist, speech therapist. The team provides a range of expert advice, assessment and training.

Many children being referred for family finding for adoption have care histories where the birth mother have used alcohol and or other drugs and the impact of this have not been adequately assessed or considered in the permanency planning framework. This can lead to significant potential consequences for adoptive parents making decisions about future care needs of children. For more details on the subject, read the guide, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, A guide for healthcare professionals, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).

In our view anyone working with looked after children, fostering or adoption should be aware of the issues involved in maternal drug misuse and the impact of this on foetal development and consequences for future care planning. This is why we've set up a series of conferences, Bruised Before Birth. The first one is taking place in Cardiff on 14 July 2010 and the second in Birmingham on 16 November 2010. If you would like more information about these, contact Charlotte Lindsell, TACT Events and Press Officer on 020 8695 2315 or c.lindsell@tactcare.org.uk. 

For more information about FACS and any future training seminars, please contact Jacqui Le Vaillant, our FACS Project Manager, on 020 8695 2313 or adoptionduty@tactcare.org.uk.

Read Jacqui's comments on how support is vital for children with FASD; Child behaviour disorders linked to mum's drinking while pregnant, article published in Community Care on 22 January 2010.