Tools
Koori SUPPS
The Alcohol Education Research Foundation (AERF) has funded Barnardos South Coast to work with the local indigenous community to develop a project to reduce the risk of alcohol on babies. The project aims to engage the local Aboriginal Community to support Aboriginal women to make choices that are the best and safest option for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) Guideline for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding indicate that for women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, and for women breastfeeding not drinking is the safest option. The project team is aiming to raise awareness of the risks. The reality is that Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can be associated with small to moderate levels of alcohol intake during pregnancy.
Research in the last decade has found that even low levels of alcohol use can cause neurological deficits in the developing foetus which can cause permanent disadvantage to the child, the family and the community. This risk increases in disadvantaged communities. It is entirely preventable and therefore an early intervention project was developed to address this issue.
Resources were developed by Aboriginal health workers in a consultative process with local Aboriginal Communities. The program includes training for Aboriginal health and welfare workers as well as midwives and staff of early childhood centres. Workers who have been trained will deliver the knowledge about FASD to Aboriginal Communities and to pregnant women using the resources developed.
The kit includes these facts:
• No level of alcohol is safe during pregnancy
• When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby
• Drinking any kind of alcohol can harm the baby
• Drinking alcohol in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, risk of giving birth to a smaller baby and risk of stillbirth
Click here to view a PDF with more information about Koori SUPPS
Changing places - the terrible toll
The outcomes for too many children in foster care, removed by Children's Courts from their parents, is constant moves throughout their childhood. They seldom settle long enough to secure relationships or friendships nor know which school they will attend next month. A life of impermanence will have an appaling cost on their emotional lives and their future.
Barnardos believes that the need for permanency should drive all planning for these children. The first choice is to restore home quickly those children whose parents can be assisted to safely resume their care. If this is not possible a secure permanent forever family via foster care or adoption is vital.
The Jo & Barney comic trilogy is designed to assist children to understand the adoption process. Click here to view the comic series.
