Raising a Child with FASD to Thrive

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

03/04/26

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80m

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Are you raising a child with known prenatal exposure to alcohol? Does your child have a diagnosis for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder? Listen to this conversation with Barb Clark, Founder and CEO of FASD Mosaic. She offers coaching, training, and consulting on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), trauma, neurodivergence, and challenging behaviors, and is the author of Raising Kids and Teens with FASD: Advice and Strategies to Help Your Family to Thrive!

In this episode, we discuss:

In your experience, what do caregivers most misunderstand about FASD at first?”
How does prenatal alcohol exposure impact brain development?
What is the difference between FAS and FASD?
Do the timing, frequency, and amount of alcohol all matter in the outcomes experienced by the child? Are there other factors at play?
Why is FASD still so often missed or misunderstood?
Primary neurological impacts on a child who has FASD
Secondary behaviors – which, when viewed through that brain-based lens, are adaptive responses that help them process and cope with their environment
What are a few practical strategies parents and caregivers can implement to help them reframe how they support their child with FASD?
Tantrums or raging as an example of challenging behaviors – how it may look differently across these ages and developmental levels
What are a few of the typical strengths seen in individuals with FASD?
Why do these strengths often emerge inconsistently?
How our home environment and culture set a child with FASD up for success
Can you offer practical suggestions for how parents or caregivers would implement a strengths-based approach to raising a child with FASD?
Practical strategies that parents and caregivers can implement right away when raising their child with FASD
How do you recommend a parent or caregiver handle the process of repair and reconnection with a child with FASD?
What should parents and caregivers consider in planning for the future?
Prioritizing self-care and reframing it as interdependence and community care.

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Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
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Previous Episode

Answering My Child's Questions When I Have No Information to Share - Weekend Wisdom

February 28

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11m

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This is a second question from a listener named Tabitha who adopted a baby boy last year. Tho the adoption looked like it might be at least semi-open, it's effectively closed for now because the baby's birth mom is no longer communicating even with the agency.

Question: All our training spoke to the benefits of open adoption. We also know (our baby) has two older siblings living with grandparents. There is also a toddler-aged sibling who was adopted. Like us, first mom is in her early 40s, so she’s got life experience. How do we handle questions that arise when baby G is older, with so little info? We seem to be a rarity in this day and age, with a closed adoption not of our choosing. I definitely respect mom’s choices, but I know questions will pop up on our little one’s end down the road.

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