Seeking Parents of 5- 18year olds 

Sam Francis, PhD student, University of Strathclyde

‘Understanding resilience in families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder’

Hello, my name is Samantha Francis. I am a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde, due to my own background of caring for children with disabilities this research project is of great importance to me and close to my heart.

This collaborative research with the FASD Hub Scotland aims to provide a deeper understanding of your day-to-day life, the challenges you face and how you overcome them.

·      Are you a parent or carer of a young person with a FASD diagnosis or a history of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure?

·      Are they between the ages of 5 years and 18 years old?

·      If over 16 years old is your child still in the education system?

·      Do you live in the UK?

·      Do you have an hour you can spare to complete an online questionnaire?

For more information and to complete the survey you can either click on the link below:  

or you can email myself [email protected]

Complete Survey

You can also contact my supervisors Dr Edward Sosu  [email protected]  and Prof Marion Henderson [email protected]  with any questions.

Seeking Adoptive and Foster Parents  

Fiona Mercer, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University of Edinburgh

Family and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Exploring foster and adoptive parents’ experiences of social networks and social capital as a source of support and a mediator of stress.

The purpose of this study is to ask foster and adoptive parents of children with FASD about their experiences of social networks and social capital (resources created within social networks, such as trust). In particular, the study will ask how a parent’s social environment makes them feel supported and helps buffer some of the stress they experience. 

The criteria to take part in this research is:

• Have been a foster or adoptive parent of a child with FASD for at least 6 months
• Have at least one child in the family with a formal FASD diagnosis
• Have at least one child with FASD under 16 years old
•   Live in the UK
• Comfortable speaking in English

You will be asked to participate in an interview which will ask questions about your experience of being a foster or adoptive parent of a child with FASD, particularly related to your social networks and the social capital created within these networks. The interview will take place online on Microsoft Teams at a date and time that suit you. Interviews usually last around 1 hour but this will vary person to person.

If you would like to participate or want to know more information about the research, please email [email protected]  for an informal phone or video call to discuss the project further.

Please note all interviews will be conducted on Microsoft Teams.

Download the research flyer

Download participant information

Seeking Biological parents of children with FASD

On behalf of the Fetal Alcohol Advisory Support, and Training (FAAST) Team at the University of Edinburgh, we would like advertise an opportunity to participate in a new research study. The FAAST Team are looking for biological or birth parents of children to participate in a research project.

Birth parents’ voices are missing in the research literature and the FAAST Team want to understand how they can best support birth parents to participate in research. The FAAST team are then planning to put those thoughts into action for a follow up study with birth parents.

The project has multiple phases and in the first phase, they would like to hear your views about research and how they can best undertake research with birth parents. The research will an interview with a member of the FAAST team and will take about 30-45 minutes. You will receive a £30 gift card for taking part in the research.

Please visit the study webpage at https://edin.ac/49DgRAH or contact Stewart McDougall at [email protected] for more information and to provide your details for the FAAST Team to contact you.

You can also download further information below:

FAAST Research with Biological parents

‘Understanding the determinants of resilience in families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder’

Hello, my name is Samantha Francis. 

I am a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde due to my own background of caring for children with disabilities this research project is of great importance to me and close to my heart.

This research aims to provide a deeper understanding of your day-to-day life, the challenges you face, how you overcome them, who if anyone supports you to do this, and what support you wish you had received. Your personal story when shared and combined with other families can help to build a picture of how resilience can be encouraged in other families affected by FASD. This picture can then be used to help inform decisions made by both policy makers and service providers to improve the support that is currently available.

Sam will shortly be recruiting for the next stage of her research - check back soon!

Welcome to this photo-based study that displays the photos, thoughts and words of young people with FASD. 

My name is Miranda and I am studying at the University of Edinburgh. From May 2021 to May 2022, I have been privileged to carry out research with 8 young people across the UK as they share their views and experiences of FASD with me and as part of a group.  In this SWAY presentation, we have worked together to identify photos and the key messages that the young people want to share about FASD with everyone!

Thank you to my co-researchers and FASD Hub Scotland for supporting this research. Any questions please contact me at [email protected]