Host Sandra Flach is a mom of 8 children, 5 through adoption—one kinship and 4 international. Her youngest 2 are teens diagnosed with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). With over 30 years of parenting experience and 20 plus years as an adoptive and kinship parent, she’s made mountains of mistakes and learned loads of lessons. She understands the difficult road of parenting children with trauma histories—and she is still in the trenches! The Adoption & Foster Care Journey is a podcast to encourage, educate, and equip you to care for children in crisis through adoption, foster care, and kinship care. We aim to support adoptive and foster families by sharing encouraging real-life stories and equipping them with modern-day research and parenting techniques.
Episodes
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Episode 261 - FASD and the Criminal Justice System with Judge Andra Ackerman
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Monday Feb 22, 2021
“LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, somber people can no longer terrify them.” Psalm 10:17-18
Eighty percent of the children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are in the foster care system. The average age that children with an FASD begin having trouble with the law is 12.8 years old. Fifty percent of individuals with an FASD have a history of confinement in a jail, prison, chemical health treatment facility, or psychiatric hospital.
According to Proof Alliance, FASD behaviors that contribute to these poor outcomes are confabulation, memory challenges, difficulty with impulse control, inability to understand consequences, difficulty connecting cause and effect, and vulnerability to peer pressure. Caregivers of individuals with an FASD are familiar with these behaviors. What can be done to help assure the success of our kids?
On this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with Albany County Court Judge Andra Ackerman about FASD and the criminal justice system. Over her career, Judge Ackerman has fiercely advocated for vulnerable children in the system. Born to an alcoholic mother, Andra spent time in the foster care system. Her experience fuels her passion for justice for vulnerable youth.
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