Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 16/02) - Pat Strus knows first-hand what it is like to raise a child with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Pat and her husband Nick are presently foster parents to four children between the ages of seven and 12, who have FAS.

Effects of Drinking Pre-natal exposure to alcohol can cause: - Intellectual deficits and learning disabilities - Hyperactivity - Attention and/or memory deficits - Inability to manage anger - Difficulties with problem solving - Pre-natal and post-natal growth deficiencies - Facial abnormalities - Growth deficiencies - Damage to the central nervous system - It is estimated that in Canada at least one child is born with FAS each day Source: Health Canada Who's Drinking Surveys done in 1996 indicate up to 30 per cent of women in the NWT drink during pregnancy. Source: GNWT Health and Social Services, NWT Status of Women

FAS is a pattern of birth defects -- neurological, physical and behaviourial -- found in babies exposed to alcohol while in the womb. For the past 10 years, the Strus family has specialized in caring for children with FAS. It all began when a four-year-old girl with FAS was placed with the Strus family.

"In trying to meet her needs we had to throw out the whole book on how we raised our other kids," said Pat.

"You can't really describe it. It's very, very challenging, but it's very rewarding as well," she said.

"I find a lot of joy in raising my kids."

Every parent encourages their children to succeed, and for Pat -- who has three biological children -- it is no different with her foster children. However, there are slight modifications to what she expects.

"You learn to redefine success. They don't find success in ways you would traditionally find success. My (FAS) children are not going to grow up to be doctors or lawyers," said Pat.

Meeting individual needs

FAS in the Strus's children varies from full to partial effects.

"The difference is about four days in the womb," explained Strus.

Full-blown FAS combines the neurological effects as well as the physical characteristics, while partial FAS does not carry the physical attributes.

The difference is the parent was drinking between days 18 and 22 of the pregnancy when the facial features of the unborn child develop, according to facts provided by the Yellowknife Association for Community Living.

Children with FAS have attention deficit disorders, memory deficit disorders and difficulties with cause and effect thinking.

The Strus's four children manifest these conditions in different ways, which means parenting styles differ from child to child.

"The kids tend to be quite impulsive. I remember one child was having fun down by the water and he jumped off the dock, forgetting he didn't know how to swim," said Pat.

The same child was helping his parents burn shrubs one day when, left unsupervised for a short time, he decided to build his own fire-pit.

"It was a really nice fire-pit," said Strus. "The only problem is he only built it a foot away from the house."

To help the children cope, the Strus's are big on structure.

"Our home is very structured and we've built routines into our lives that we try not to vary from," said Pat.

"You have to keep repeating and re-enforcing things you can't rely on them to remember. My 12-year-old still can't be trusted to cross the street on her own."

The Strus's 12-year-old has the mental maturity of a six-year-old, and although she can cross the street properly most of the time, she may dart into traffic sometimes.

At times, the children are frustrated by constantly being watched.

"They don't always realize they have these attention and memory deficits. So they sometimes feel more confident than I can trust them to be. That's not to say they don't become confident, it just takes a little longer to internalize."

"It's not that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the tunnel is just longer," said Pat.

The Strus's also lead by example. Children with FAS also have a tendency to act on what they see or hear going on around them.

"It's a slippery slope with kids with this disorder -- what's true with non-FAS kids is triple true with FAS kids. If you don't want them to do something, don't do it yourself," said Pat.

"We don't drink in our home because we don't want that to be modelled as normal behaviour," said Pat.

More understanding

With all the challenges involved in raising children with FAS, Pat said it is not the difficulties in the home she minds. It is the attitudes of society that frustrate her.

"The hardest thing to deal with has nothing to do with the kids. It's people's perception of the children and people's expectations of my children," said Pat.

Although she wishes her children all the success, it seems when that happens they are abandoned by society.

"When our kids are successful that's when they are at risk because we start taking supports away from them and they flounder without support," she said.

Doreen Baptiste works on the FAS project, through the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, and advocates an alcohol-free pregnancy.

The project promotes public awareness and responsibility concerning FAS and the dangers of substance abuse during pregnancy.

There is no safe quantity of alcohol consumption for expecting mothers, she says.

"Many women don't know the fetus' brain is effected all the way through pregnancy," said Baptiste.

Baptiste hopes that one day the problem will disappear because FAS is 100 per cent preventable.

"FAS is a major issue in the territories as it is across Canada. For us as individuals and a community it's our responsibility to promote responsibility and prevention," said Baptiste.