This site is designed for justice system professionals and others who want to understand more about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). It provides information and resources about FASD, including background information, case law, legal resources and strategies for effective intervention.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term for the leading causes of mental and developmental disabilities in the Western world.  A person with FASD always has permanent brain damage, though obvious physical effects are usually absent.  The result is that FASD is often invisible to the untrained eye.

FASD presents many difficult challenges across the judicial system. The objective of the website is to provide information to help justice system professionals to be better informed in their contact with persons with FASD who are involved with the justice system as accused, victims or witnesses, or through the child welfare system, and to be better equipped to respond appropriately to these challenges.

FASD has been developed by the FASD Justice Committee, an independent group of justice system professionals and FASD experts from across Canada, who work together to produce publicly available information about people with FASD and the justice system. 

To watch Try and Imagine (2 mins) click here

To watch the webinar FASD & the Justice System: A Better Understanding (90 minutes) click here.

The slide presentation for the Webinar I is available here. English / French

To watch the webinar FASD & the Justice System: A Better Understanding - Part II (95 minutes) click here.

The slide presentation for the Webinar II is available here. English / French

To watch the webinar FASD & the Justice System: A Better Understanding - Part III - Evidence in Criminal Law(89 minutes) click here.

The PDF presentation for the Webinar III is available here. English / French

To watch the webinar FASD & the Justice System: A Better Understanding - Part IV - FASD & Reconciliation (90 minutes) click here.

The slide presentation for the Webinar IV is available here. English / French

Extra slides for the Webinar IV is available here. English / French

We thank The Law Foundation of Ontario for their generous support of the website. 

We thank the Department of Justice Canada for their support for the production of Try and Imagine. We thank the Law for the Future Fund for their support for the webinars.

You will need Acrobat Reader to create and view some of the documents on this website.