Calon Cymru Fostering Welcomes Leading FASD Campaigner

Martin Clarke is a leading campaigner in the field of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and has spent a large part of his Social Work career raising awareness of FASD amongst health and social care professionals across the UK.

We were delighted to have Martin spend a day with us recently at Calon Cymru's Cardiff office. We have known Martin for many years and admire his passion and depth of knowledge on this subject. His training was superb as always, drawing on his expertise and personal experience.

The prevalence of FASD amongst children in the UK is difficult to accurately assess due to under diagnosis, however, most studies suggest that 2 - 4% of children may have FASD.

To put that into perspective, in a school of 500 children, 10 - 20 children may have FASD, likely to be undiagnosed. This figure rises to at least 18% for children in foster care. It is therefore pivotal that foster carers are equipped to deal with children and young people who may have the disorder.

At Calon Cymru Fostering, we believe in the importance of training and supporting our foster carers to look after children and young people who may have FASD and raising awareness of the needs that children with FASD have.

All our foster carers receive a comprehensive package of support, which includes access to training that has been tailored to help them best meet the needs of the children and young people who are in care across South East and West Wales.