PUBLIC LECTURE: Developing Diversionary Pathways for Indigenous Young People with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

This lecture will report on the findings of a 17-month study undertaken in three Indigenous communities in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia, to develop diversionary alternatives for Indigenous young people with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

FASD is a non-diagnostic umbrella term encompassing a spectrum of disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, including Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (‘FAS’), Partial FAS (‘pFAS’) and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder.

In 2015, Australia’s first population-based study on the prevalence of FAS/pFAS, reported rates of 12 per 100 children in the remote Indigenous town of Fitzroy Crossing in the West Kimberley. This is the highest reported prevalence of FAS/pFAS in Australia and similar to rates reported in ‘high-risk’ populations internationally.

The range of cognitive, social and behavioural difficulties a person with FASD may experience can render them more susceptible to contact with the criminal justice system. Research indicates that over half of persons with FASD will interact with the criminal justice system, and that young people with FASD are 19 times more likely to be arrested than their peers. This is particularly concerning in the context of the worsening over-incarceration of Indigenous youth in Western Australia.

Rather than prison, young people with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder need to be diverted into non-stigmatising therapeutic alternatives run by Indigenous people. We call this a “decolonising” approach because the alternatives are Indigenous community-owned and managed. This approach acknowledges the strengths of Indigenous families and communities. The system may be “broken”; Indigenous Australia is not.

We have found widespread support within Indigenous organisations and, increasingly, within mainstream service providers, for culturally secure initiatives that draw on the authority of Elders and devolve the care and management of young people to community controlled processes, particularly ‘on-country’.

To facilitate targeted intervention and diversion, we argue for the creation of a Mobile ‘needs focused’ Court. This Court would serve as a testing bed to assess the feasibility of ‘therapeutic’ and ‘trauma informed’ modes of adjudication and service delivery partnered with Indigenous community-led initiatives such as ‘on-country’ and cultural healing programs.