Dorothy Badry

I have been a social worker for over 35 years and I completed a BSW and MSW (1986) and went on to do a PhD in the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program. I worked in the disability field initially and moved to child welfare where I worked for 16 years and learned firsthand about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) doing child protection work. My passion has been focusing on ways to better support children and families living with FASD and women struggling with addictions and mental health issues that lead to prenatal exposure to alcohol. FASD is a complex disability and families and caregivers require lots of support. FASD is a stigmatized disability that would benefit from new narratives focusing on strengths and resiliency of individuals and families. I am the child welfare research lead for the Canada FASD Research Network. I have had the privilege to work with colleagues in Western Australia on FASD and have an adjunct appointment at Curtin University in Perth in the School of Health Sciences where I collaborate on research. I co-edited the Youth in Care Chronicles published in 2020 and co-authored Decolonising Justice for Aboriginal Youth with FASD published in Australia in 2021. I believe advocacy is critical in responding to FASD and am deeply committed to this work.