As Liv interns at FASD United, she will share what she is learning and doing to inspire and explore FASD awareness through a public health lens. In her time with our organization, she will have opportunities to experience the roundedness of our programs, aid in important projects, and explore her understanding through reflection.

“This week, I was so happy to be back at the office and to see everyone, but I also had a lot of work to do.

My main focus for this week was continuing the bill report project. I’m happy to say that I have made a huge dent in the pile of bills that I have been looking at. As I’ve been looking through more and more of them, I noticed that some bills have the same phrases or statements. It is very interesting to see this repetition. However, it can also be frustrating when trying to distinguish what different bills do for FASD. The good news is that the majority of bills that I have looked at so far have acts, regulations, and requirements that align with FASD United’s mission. One bill that I thought was incredible and could make a lot of change if it was enacted was titled MN HF 2330. This bill requires that foster parents or caregivers must complete at least one hour of training every year on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. I also really appreciated that the commissioner of human services will approve the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders training curriculum so every foster parent is given accurate and up-to-date information on FASD. This is a great example of an intervention focused on education that can help increase knowledge on FASD and increase child safety by having informed adults know how to handle certain situations correctly.

I also feel that since there is a prominent amount of children with FASD in the foster care system, it is extremely important that those who interact directly with the system have the correct information for the health and safety of whoever they are caring for. I also really liked this project because I was able to sort out which bills can help further FASD United’s mission versus the bills that are not as helpful. When we better understand what bills can help FASD awareness and advocacy, I can take more steps to look further into these bills and track their progress. I’m excited to finish going over all of the bills and hopefully have this done soon. Thanks for reading, everyone!”

Reflection from 4/1 to 4/5 2024