Soul Care Fetal Alcohol Edition

I wanted to thank those of you who wrote to encourage me about my feelings of mommy-burnout. I try not to whine too often. I never want someone who is considering adoption of a special needs child to read my blog and think that adopting a child who has been alcohol affected ruins your life. Frankly, the opposite is true. Marissa is one of the only things I invest in that is not going to deteriorate and rot. God has used her to grow me in more ways than I could articulate in this blog. She blesses me tremendously. On the flip side, I want to be honest about our struggles so that people who might be considering adoption and foster care can be realistic about their gifts and abilities.

This edition of Soul Care features a single blogger. Kari is a mother of six children. Two of her children entered her home through adoption and both have been prenatally affected by alcohol. Kari works for an organization that provides education, training and support for adoptive and birth parents who are parenting children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I usually feel like I am a passionate advocate for my daughter, but Kari makes me feel lukewarm. She is awesome!

There are two items on Kari’s blog that I want to highlight. First, in Let’s All Do Something, Kari reminds her US readers that May is National Foster Care Month and Kari has issued a challenge. What can we each do to raise awareness of the needs of the children in foster care. All I have done so far is to add a blue Adoption Awareness ribbon to my sidebar.

Next, Kari posted a video series that is just what this nearing burn-out mother needed. I am putting the YouTube videos within the text of this entry so that anyone interested in viewing these videos will not have to click back and forth between individual links. These videos are between 5 and 10 minutes each.

The Invisible Children and Families of FASD

• Introduction:

• Symptoms:

• Invisible:

• School

• The Future

• Compassion