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FASlink

Bright's Grove, Ontario

Cause Description:
Brief History The Fetal Alcohol Support Network began in 1991. Bruce Ritchie was a founding director. It was the seed for many other local FASD support groups. Bruce began compiling all the research and support information into a database. FASlink officially began in 1995 under CCSA but was about to be terminated in 1999 when Bruce took it over. The resource was too valuable to too many people to allow it to die. CCSA provided only the mailing list. Bruce provided the servers, software, expertise, and labour in the hopes alternate funding could be quickly found. That was almost 10 years ago. In 1999, FASN website was merged with the FASlink Discussion Forum and renamed FASlink. The organization is now FASlink Fetal Alcohol Disorders Society. Basic FASlink Stats The FASlink website contains more than 130,000 FASD related documents used by families, individuals, professionals, authors, PhD theses, etc. and serves 400,000+ visitors annually. It is the largest FASD resource in the world. Students use FASlink to write theses and term papers. Governments and agencies use FASlink for reference material, but never provide any funding. Writers and speakers quote FASlink at conferences, but there is always an excuse to not help fund it. The FASlink Discussion Forum has more than 600 members online at any one time. Some people are long-term members and others, such as students and researchers, come and go. The depth and breadth of knowledge and support on FASlink is incredible. FASlink helps parents learn how to be parents of children with FASD and other special needs. It helps locate critical resources and programs for families, such as Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities, Special Services at Home, Assistive Devices Program, grants to cover full educational costs of children with disabilities going on to college or university, etc. It helps provide emotional support in the incredibly stressful world of FASD. It helps provide legal advice and resources. For example, ACSD in Ontario provides up to $410.00 per month for costs incurred for children with disabilities that are beyond those normally expected for a non-disabled child. FASlink is a lifeline for many, particularly those in more remote areas where there are no local support organizations or knowledgeable resources. FASlink provides resources to teachers and other professionals that they cannot find in their professional curricula. Those resources also help parents and professionals to work together for the benefit of the child, not at cross-purposes. FASlink reports on the latest research, government initiatives and corporate faux pas. FASlink is not muzzled by special interest groups.

Type: Human/ Social Services
Listed on iGive since: November 2008
iGive members supporting: 1

Website: http://www.faslink.org

Raised through iGive: $54.45 across 2 checks, November 2008 to November 2009.

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