The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has funded an Aboriginal-led prevention project aiming to support Aboriginal women who are pregnant and reduce FASD in the community and to address service gaps for Aboriginal families.

This $998,089.25 funding came about through the initiation of Dr. Robyn Williams of Curtin University and colleagues; in collaboration with CanFASD’s Child Welfare Lead, Dorothy Badry, and leading Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS), Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service (DYHS) in Perth, Western Australia.

This project aims to “produce the first model of long-term family support from a holistic framework to support Aboriginal mothers and children in an Aboriginal Medical Service. The critical aim is to support women with improved access to services and the reduction of alcohol/drug (AOD) exposed births”.

The project comes about a year after Dr. Williams and Dr. Badry were appointed in 2023 by the Children’s Court in Perth, Australia, to evaluate and write a report on a mother with FASD whose children were in care.

Along with her colleague Dr. Robyn Williams from Curtin University and a team from the AMS, Dr. Badry looked into national grant opportunities. In February, 2023 they applied for a Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF) Category 1 grant and found out in June that it was successful.

According to Dr. Badry, applying for the grant was a massive task but it is inspiring to see this grant with an international team being successful in the prevention field. We would like to congratulate Dr. Badry, Dr. Williams and the entire team for their hard work on this!