AVITH in Context Webinar: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

Date: 8^th May 2024

Mode: Online

Presenter: Professor Anita Gibbs, University of Otago, NZ

Webinar summary 

This webinar explores a challenging area of practice: when Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a contributing factor in a young person’s use of violence in the home. 

NB: This webinar features a guest speaker from New Zealand. Child to Parent Violence and Abuse (CAPVA) is a term commonly used there to describe AVITH.

Who is this relevant for? 

All practitioners and managers working in programs with children, young people and families.  

Background 

• FASD is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting a young person’s development, behaviour and learning, and can have life-long impacts. 
• As many presenting signs overlap with complex trauma or other neurodevelopmental conditions, it remains largely undiagnosed or misidentified. This can have serious repercussions, including in the justice system, if not adequately addressed.
• In Australia, FASD is recognised as a permanent and significant disability by the NDIA, however, you must still provide evidence indicating how your child is impacted by the disability. Read more
• FASD is an increasingly significant area of concern for children in Out of Home Care (OoHC).  Standard interventions on their own will not adequately address the challenges faced by young people with FASD.

This webinar covers: 

• Definitions and primary issues of FASD, including impact on executive, social and adaptive functioning;
• Secondary challenges and co-occuring issues;
• Information about clinical assessment, including issues of misidentification;
• Impacts on caregivers and implications for OoHC placements
• Strategies for carers to deal with outbursts

Key resources referenced in this webinar:

• ‘No one believed us: no one came to help’: caregivers’ experiences of violence and abuse involving children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Professor Gibbs’ 2024 research is based on interviews with 56 parents and caregivers, including birth families/whānau.
• Understanding the ten brain domains affected by FASD. These are the brain functions that are evaluated for clinical assessment.
• Identifying the neurobehavioural phenotype and effective interventions. ‘This tool has high sensitivity and specificity in separating children with FASD from those with ADHD and from healthy controls.’
• Further resources at NOFASD: Australia’s National Organisation for FASD.

About the speaker:

Professor Anita Gibbs trained as a social worker in the UK, completed her PhD at the University of Bristol and undertook post-doctoral work at the University of Oxford. Professor Gibbs has taught social work, sociology, and criminology courses at the University of Otago in Aotearoa New Zealand for the last 25 years. Anita is a registered social worker and has a special interest in the area of families and FASD. Her research studies have included adoption, transcultural parenting, mental health, criminal justice, and FASD and other complex dis/abilities. Anita seeks to identify best practice in helping families and best evidence for professionals in their interventions with families. She also facilitates parent support groups and training for families living with FASD, including collaborating with NOFASD Australia in the development and delivery of the successful Families Linking with Families support group program.

Further publications by this author:

Gibbs, A. (2024). ‘No one believed us: no one came to help’: Caregivers’ experiences of violence and abuse involving children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1002/anzf.1575

 Gibbs, A., Wei, J., Gilmour, F., Dougherty, J., Bond, P., Bohn, S., Biggs, L., & Rakuita, T. (Eds.). (2023). Proceedings of the Sociology, Gender Studies & Criminology and Social & Community Work Postgraduate Symposium VII. Dunedin, New Zealand: Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology Programme, University of Otago. 44p.

 Gibbs, A., Flanagan, J., & Gray, L. (2023). An Australian online training and support program for caregivers of children and youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Families linking with families. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 2271757. Advance online publication. doi: 10.3109/13668250.2023.2271757

Gibbs, A. (2023). Living in the fire: The impacts of child and adolescent to parent violence and abuse on caregivers of children with fetal alcohol spectrum. Drug & Alcohol Review, 42(Suppl. 1), 64. doi: 10.1111/dar.13749

 Milne, K., Henderson, L., Gibbs, A., Johnston, T., & Chu, J. T. W. (2023, October). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: What is needed to enable tertiary students to achieve. Workshop presentation at the Neuroability Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.

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