Understanding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD): Promising Practices for System Involved Youth with FASD

FASD has major implications for the juvenile justice and the child welfare system. Judges and related professionals often encounter people with FASD in courts around the nation, more often than not they appear without a formal diagnosis on the fetal alcohol spectrum. Some of these youth are caught up in a revolving door and recycle through the system and have received many other diagnoses and labels. Courts may encounter children in the foster care system with histories of prenatal alcohol exposure that come from families with significant Substance Use Disorders. Courts may also encounter parents with histories of prenatal alcohol exposure that may struggle to take care of their children.