Foreword

This special issue of The First Peoples Child & Family Review on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) was published in partnership between The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and The Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research (The Centre).

The Centre was established in 2003 with a priority to support research on the prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and to build knowledge on how to improve outcomes for those affected byFASD. The Centre began funding studies, building and mobilizing knowledge about FASD after two commissioned State of the Evidence Reviews revealed critical gaps in the number of prevention and intervention programs being developed, implemented and evaluated.

Dr. Dorothy Badry, guest editor of this edition completed an International Research and Practice Inventory Review for The Centre in 2003. Over the years, Dr. Badry has and continues to make significant contributions to expanding our FASD knowledge base. Her recent work in the Northwest Territories with women in four northern communities is featured in the article “Brightening Our Homes Fires: An Exploratory FASD Prevention Project”.

Finally, this special edition was published as a sister issue to Volume 19(2) of the Journal on Developmental Disabilities (JoDD). We would like to acknowledge the JoDD for contributing abstracts to this issue. We invite readers to explore their upcoming issue for further reading on FASD.

The editorial board of the First Peoples Child & Family Review, in partnership with The Centre, would like to thank the authors in this edition for their important contributions to FASD knowledge and research. We would also like extend a heartfelt thank you to the youth, women, parents and community members who participated in this work by sharing their stories, knowledge and insights. We are honoured by your generosity.