B R E A K I N G D O W N B R I C K W A L L S F O R F A S D

Costs of FASD

The comprehensive lifetime cost of just one baby with FAS
could be as much as $4 million.


Teresa Kellerman - FAS Community Resource Center
Bruce Ritchie - The Triumf Project

The cost to American taxpayers for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
is estimated to be $5 million a day.
$1.9 billion/year: National Institute on Drugs and Alcohol

• On average, each Individual with FASD costs the taxpayer more than $4 million in his or her lifetime (health problems, special education, psychotherapy and counseling, welfare, crime, and the justice system).
• More than 60% of prisoners are likely affected by alcohol in utero. It costs approximately $120,000/year to "house" a Young Offender and $82,000 for an adult offender.
• Punishment does not cure neurological damage.

Add on:

• the individual with FASD's own lifetime loss of income;
• the high costs to the families (foster, adoptive or biological) who raise and care for children and adults with FASD;
• the lost income of a parent who must care for the exceptionally high needs of an child with FASD;
• the costs to families whose child with FASD is permanently dependent upon them;
• the costs of legal services for defending their child in the courts;
• the cost of stress caused divorce, etc.

Basic Math FASD Facts