RELEASE: October 23, 2003

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National experts to converge on New Jersey for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome National Convention

Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris will welcome a national delegation of attendees to New Jersey’s Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Task Force’s Conference on October 27-28 at the Atlantic City Convention Center. The conference will mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first articles describing the clinical characteristics of FAS in the international medical journal The Lancet.

Because the FAS Task Force -- a committee of the Governor’s Council on the Prevention of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities -- is a national leader in telling the story of FAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) signed on as a co-sponsor, making this a “national conference.” The conference theme is The Truth and Consequences of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and one of the authors of the original articles, Dr. Ken Jones, will be the opening keynote speaker.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27

• 8:30 a.m. Welcome by DHS Commissioner Gwendolyn L.Harris; Assemblyman Francis J. Blee; & DHSS Asst. Commissioner Celeste Andriot-Wood 9 a.m. Preventing FAS: It's About Time! - Jose F. Cordero, MD, MPH, Asst. Surgeon General, Director CDC, NCBDDD 10 a.m. A Mom's Story - Kathleen Tavenner Mitchell, MHS, LCADC, National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• 11:15 a.m. Workshops
• 12:30 p.m. Keynote Address - Kenneth Lyons Jones, MD, Univ. of California San Diego
  2:15 p.m. What's in a Brain? What the Images Reveal - Edward P. Riley, PhD, Chair, National Task Force on FAS
• 3:30 p.m. Workshops
• 5:15 p.m. Reception - comments from Federal Partners: Faye Calhoun, DPA, MS, NIAAA; Louise Floyd, RN, DSN, CDC, NCBDDD; Deborah Stone, PhD, SAMHSA; Callie Gass, National FAS Center of Excellence

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28

• 8:15 a.m. Welcome - Michael McCormack, PhD, Chair, NJ FAS Task Force
• 8:30 a.m. Promoting Self-Change in the Community: Implications for FAS Prevention, Linda Carter Sobell, PhD
• 9:30 a.m. Workshops
• 11:15 a.m. What Comes Next? The Life Cycles of Families of Children, Adolescents and Adults with FAS, Nancy D'Amodio, Melinda Ohlemiller, C. Robert Spitzer
  
• 1:30 to 4 p.m. Skill-Building Sessions:

1.Parents Working with Parents - NJ FAS Task Force
2.Twelve High Powered Points to Successful Prevention Presentations - Rosemary Horner, MSPH, UMDNJ-SOM
3.Creating a Circle of Hope: Birth Families Unite - Kathleen Tavenner Mitchell
4.The Arc's FAS Training Program - Sharon Davis, PhD, The Arc of the United States

This national conference not only culminates a month of activities across New Jersey that observed September 9th, International FAS Awareness Day, but also ties in to Commissioner Harris’ efforts to curb the impact that substance abuse has in contributing to child abuse and neglect.

FAS is an array of permanent, non-curable birth defects and physical malformations, including mental retardation, that is caused by women drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure generally show facial anomalies, growth retardation, and central nervous system abnormalities such as attention deficits, hyperactivity, and mental health problems. Nationally, 55,000 children are born each year with FAS, only 5,000 of whom show the facial abnormalities, but all of whom have some level of mental retardation.

Additional information about the 30th Anniversary FAS Conference can be obtained from Deborah Cohen, Director of the New Jersey Office for Prevention of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities at 609-984-3351 or deborah.cohen@dhs.state.nj.us; or from Ann Wilson, Director of the New Jersey Coalition for Prevention of Developmental Disabilities of The Arc of New Jersey at 732-246-2525, ext. 23 or awilson@arcnj.org. Conference brochures, including registration forms and information about conference fees, may be obtained by visiting http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/OPMRDD/FASconfbrochure-p1.pdf

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