Detox program failed: Rosales

A high-profile attempt to detoxify dozens of Innu children in St. John's in 2001 was a failure, says a pediatrician who has treated some of them.

Dr. Ted Rosales, a pediatrician and expert in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, says he made FASD diagnoses with 24 of the 40 children he examined.

The mothballed Grace General Hospital in St. John's was reopened to house the children, whose gas-sniffing attracted international attention and the empathy of then-prime minister Jean Chretien.

The federal and provincial governments spent millions on the program, but Rosales says not enough work was spent on follow-through treatment.

"I don't hesitate to say that. I think it was a wasteful $6.5 million," says Rosales, who spoke out earlier this week about what he calls an epidemic in some Labrador communities.

From Oct. 5: FASD epidemic rife in Labrador: expert

Children diagnosed with FASD can never live normally. Their brains have been irreversibly damaged because their mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy.

People with FASD have a high incidence of mental and behavioural problems.

Two of four recent suicides in Natuashish the community built to house residents relocated from the troubled coastal community of Davis Inlet have involved people diagnosed with FASD.

Rosales says the children who came to the refurbished Grace in 2001 were sent back to a community that doesn't have the supports to deal with FASD.

"We just gave them three months of being away from the environment they had before, and brought them back and nothing more to sort of really change their lives," he says.

Consequently, Rosales says many of the children have had troubles in the years since.

"I felt very sad because I knew drastic things were going to happen in these three years," Rosales says. "This is what happened."

Rosales says many of the same children have had trouble with social services and the justice system.

"I have had so many calls from Corrections, from juvenile services and other places, asking me to see them again when they have been diagnosed," Rosales says.

John Ottenheimer, who was appointed last week as the province's health minister, acknowledges the criticism.

"As a society, generally, there has been some failure," he says. "We have to recognize there is a serious problem."

Ottenheimer plans to talk to federal officials about financing a thorough treatment program for FASD in Labrador.

However, Ottenheimer says he will ask the Innu leadership to get a grip on the alcohol issue as well.