Bé - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 19, 2000 FAS comes home Local mom breaks silence over hidden disease By SARAH GLEN WHEN GWYN Charron adopted her two children, she says that they came with a guarantee from the doctar that with a little loving care they'd both turn out healthy and happy. To Charron, it was the beginning of a hard lesson learned — you shouldn’! al- ways believe what you hear. It turned out doth of Charron’s adoptive child- ten, James and Phoebe had Fetal Alcohol Syn- drome (FAS). “All I wanted to be was a mom,” said Charron. “We had been trying to have kids for eight years when we decided to adopt.” Charron and her then partner adopted James when he was three and a half years old and Phoebe when she was nine months old. While Charron knew ‘James came from an abu- sive home —he'd been re- moved fram his biological mother’s house many times before being adopted out and he was given over to Charron with cigarette burns on his back she thought that with her love and a new environment she could help solve some of his problems. What she didn’t know was that James’ problems, and later his sister Phoebe’s problems came before either child was even born. FAS is cause by mo- ther’s drinking alcohol while pregnant. Babies born with it suf- fer from physical and men- tal birth defects, which range from troubles learn- ing to extreme mood swings to impulsiveness, reads a guide distributed, ~.§ by the Vancouver-based | Society of Special Needs Adoptive Parents (SSNAP) It didn’t take long for Charron to figure out something was wrong with her children. “When a friend of mine had a child around the same age that was learn- ing in leaps and bounds and my children weren a | began to worry,” she ex- plained. “But at first you deny it. ] slowly withdrew from everyone so that I didn't have to compare my children with my friends children.” As a first-time mom, Charron thought it was her fault that her children weren't learning at the same pace as other child- ren. ' It would take over six years before she was ‘proved wrong. “1 spent many nights -crying. | mean what do you ‘do when your children -aren’t developing like they ‘should? You immediately think it’s your fault,” she ‘said, It wasn't until Charron started to do some re- ‘search on her own when she realized that James’ ‘and Phoebe’s problems came from their mothers drinking alochol when pregnant. “1 started to read and Local resident, Gwyn Charron adopted two fetal al- cohol syndrome (FAS) children. She is dissapointed that the government fails to recognize the special needs of kids with FAS. attend all the workshops I could on FAS and it just clicked, It seemed that what they were describing fit my kids perfectly,” said Charron. When doctors finally agreed .to.. assess first James and. then Phoebe the verdict was loud and’ clear: both were FAS. Phoebe scored 258 out of 261 on an FAS assess- ment test. And yet, even with the diagnosis Charron. still came up against parents, teachers, doctors and friends who refused to be- lieve her children were special needs. “Il was standing in Tim Horton’s one day and someone came up to me and said that my kids couldn’t be FAS because they were white. It’s that level of ignorance people have towards FAS,” she said, The strain of raising two children with FAS broke up Charron’s marriage, leaving her a single mom with very little financial and emotional support. “T still have pride. At one time I was working graveyards and paying over $900 for a babysitter but she still left. So what do you do?” she said, She estimates that her and her kids live on about -$1000 a month. “It's a constant struggle,” Charron said. Now 16 years old, James is involved in church youth groups, air cadets and is thinking of entering the army after high school. “T don’t worry about Jimmy [James] much. It’s . Phoebe that may be a problem.” Phoebe has been vio- lent since she was a tod- dler, giving a camp coun- -selor. a concussion and numerous babysitters bumps and bruises. “She is constantly test- ing her bounds and with a child with FAS, she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She acts on impulse,” said Charron. That has left the single mom in’ the middle of many parent teacher inter- views and angry parents wha consider her a “bad mom.” She explained that tea-_ chers and other parents don’t have the education to understand how to teach a child with FAS so when they sce Phoebe’s violent behavior, they assume it’s Charron’s fault. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do with Phoebe. | have everyone on board [child care workers, psy- chiatrists and teachers] nothing seems to work,” she said, “She’s [Phoebe] very controlling and wants all the attention on her 100 per cent of the time.” Charron would love ta see a FAS parent support group in Terrace but she said that the community first has to accept that FAS is everyone’s problem ~it's not just confined to. one group. “This is a 100 per cent preventable disease,” she said. . Group voices FAS concerns Proposed sign to warn drinkers By SARAH GLEN _A LOCAL committee is ‘hoping that their proposal lo city council will help ‘cut down the number of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome : (FAS) babies born in the - region. ‘mittee put forward a bylaw ‘recommendation, June 21 .that would see signs “posted in bars, pubs and li- «quor stores warning drink- -ers about the hazards. of .consuming alcohol when : pregnant. ' “This is just a little step. ‘to help raise awareness in + The Terrace FAS com- | our community,” said Dar- lene Westerman, a mem- ber of the FAS commiltee, “We are hoping that both men and women would read this sign and make safe choices for them- selves and their baby.” While the amount of bables born with FAS in the North is unknown, Westerman estimates (hat the number is high. “To estimate the inci- dents of FAS in a com- munity, you just. have to look at its makeup. And. the ‘truth -is|.that in the ~— North we drink a lot,” she said, But Westerman is quick to point out that FAS is- - not confined to one sector of the population, “FAS affects all walks of life and a variety of economic circumstances. Only people with .know- ledge can beat this 100 per = cent avoidable problem,” Westerman said. The proposal was for- warded from council to the. Social Planning Commit- tee, which will make.a:de-- cision on the new signs by i the. end of September. as you get older your risk «of breast cancer increases DID YOU KNOW... 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