FASD is a condition caused when a baby is exposed to alcohol in the womb, leaving them with a range of physical, behavioural and cognitive difficulties for the rest of their life.
Julia Brown, a Christian from the FASD Trust, said that parents that adopt are often unaware about the chances that a baby could have been born with FASD: "Children aged nought to four - little ones - you've got about a 75% chance or even higher of adopting a child with FASD, because children are often removed when they're little, after birth or near birth because their mother has got a drug or alcohol problem."
She also warned that mothers that were unaware they were pregnant often drank and then realised afterwards: "What we find with birth mums is that they feel very, very guilty, no one ever sets out to harm their baby - yet then you've got a child that's got the devastating lifelong consequences of foetal alcohol syndrome."
She said that part of the problem is that pregnant women receive conflicting advice on alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Julia Brown said it is about making the church more aware of how to care for children with the disability: "What can we do practically to help you and support you?
"Is there anything you want us to pray for you for?
"Let us sit with your kids and let you go and do a same supermarket shop."
She was speaking after an initial report issued today by the All Party Parliamentary Group into Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder found that the UK is lagging far behind other developed countries in raising awareness of the condition and implementing effective services and strategies to confront the growing challenges posed by the disability.
The FASD Trust said that it wants churches to know how they can change the lives of families suffering with this lifelong disability through simply asking if someone would like to have a few hours without the family.
Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley Julia Brown's from the FASD Trust here:
