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3 FC all have Mental Disabilities. Twins Boys have been diagnosed MR, DD, and Autistic.They are 7 and during their assessment they told me they were at 4.5 age level of learning. 3rd Sibling has severe ADHD, DD, She is 6 and they put her at 2.5-3 yrs of age based on her cognitive skills. She also has trouble with reasoning things out. And they are not through assessing all her disabilities yet.
Now, Mom is an alcoholic but swears she never drank while pregnant. My question is how can I find out of this is FAS? Could you really have 3 children with mental disabilities normally? I guess I am asking could it be genetic? I just don't see it, but can't say I understand either, this is the first time I have had to deal with any kind of mental disabilities.
If it can be proven it is FAS can Mom still R/U with kids? One twin has a speech issue that the audiologist said was very common in FAS because of the brain damage.
If FAS causes brain damage are these parents prosecuted? Having a lot of mixed feelings here. I am all for R/U if possible... all kids need their Mom. But, if you intentionally inflected this type of damage on your children I don't feel you should have any rights to them period. Do the CW look into this? Is there a standard protocol?
Just asking... very curious about FAS and wondering if it might be part of the issue these children are having.
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I've never been to one, but I understand there are physicians who specialize in fetal alcohol syndrome and the spectrum of disorders alcohol can cause. I've checked on the internet to find that they use a specific protocol for dx it as such.
Will your DCF care about this? Probably not...other than to give resources to the children to help with this. Is it possibly genetic? Not the alcohol damage; but it IS possible the children have a genetic abnormality. (My own daughter has a rare chromosomal disorder that was only found recently through a chromosomal microarray procedure.)
While it's nice that you feel R/U is good......IMO, any woman who consumes alcohol like that during her pregnancy-----and not just ONE---but THREE pregancies...isn't a 'mom' in the true sense. I'd be worried about any child coming home to a person who has no more respect for her children than to----knowingly----permanently damage them. And thus, I'm not sure they 'need her'. :(
But, there's also this: Despite alcohol use in utero.......and yes, damage is done; if these children were allowed to stay with her for a few years (or even during the first year).....neglect can cause a LOT of damage to children. Sooo, SOME of their problems could very well be to her lack of parenting. Sad, but true.
Sincerely,
Linny
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There are definitely genetic and chromosomal disorders that could cause developmental delays in multiple children within a family if each child inherited the disorder. With alot of our foster children, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is an issue. At the age of your foster children, they would need to be assessed by a specialized team that is qualified to diagnose FAS. I would discuss your concerns with the children's Social Worker and physician and see what steps would be recommended to look into a diagnosis for the children. Since all the children have developmental delays and the Mother reports no alcohol use, then a referral to a genetic specialist may be in needed to begin testing.
Good Luck!
In our case, the GAL told us, babies born with FAS are automatically marked for TPR. Since that didn't happen in our case (and DD bonded with her mom), it wasn't that simple. FAS was listed as a mark against her, but could no longer be seen as a reason to TPR.
I suspect that's where you are. PP's mentioned the experts which is truly the best way to find out. If they are FAS and not FAE, their facial features are rather distinct.
Check out [url=http://depts.washington.edu/fasdpn/htmls/fas-face.htm]FAS Facial Features[/url]