Worries about pre-natal exposure to alcohol hover over just about every adoption from Russia. We worry about how much the birth mother drank, and at what point during her pregnancy. We worry about the trauma children suffer as a result of being exposed to an alcoholic parent. We worry about how lasting, and how severe, the effects of that alcohol consumption will be on our children. For many parents, the worry and uncertainty is too overwhelming. They simply walk away from considering Russia as an adoption destination.

On Sunday, September 9, the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is going to give us a way to focus some of those worries as it raises awareness of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The organization, which is based in Washington, D.C. and dedicated to eliminating birth defects caused by a birth mother's consumption of alcohol, has designated September 9 as FASD Awareness Day. Why September 9? It's the ninth day of the ninth month, roughly the amount of time it takes for a child to be born, and a way of remembering that, during those nine months, the consumption of alcohol can be very harmful.

NOFAS plans to use FASD Awareness Day to boost the use of several resources to help both adults and children better understand the causes and effects of alcohol-related disorders. Resources like a K-12 education kit to teach tolerance of people with FAS disabilities and the effects of substance abuse, with materials grouped by grade level. It also plans to step up health screenings and outreach programs at community health clinics in several states. And it says that it has been working with Senators Murkowski and Johnson on an FASD bill that will boost public health and research programs.

While I like the K-12 education program--there can't be enough emphasis on tolerance and the fallout from substance abuse--it is NOFAS's effort to boost funding for FASD research that is of greatest interest to me. It doesn't, at least for now, do any outreach efforts in Russia, but there are plenty of scientists here in the United States who could use more funding for work investigating how FASD affects the later development of children, including those born abroad. I can't change the past, but I can hope that these scientists will find medicinal and nutritional ways of blunting the impact of FASD.

I'll also continue to wish that prospective parents won't turn away from Russia because of concerns about FASD; there are too many children in Russia who need the fresh start that can come from finding the right forever families. And I'll continue to research and report on the work that is being done to aid children affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Maybe from a little light, we can all see more clearly.

So take time on September 9 to learn about what NOFAS is doing.

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