Parents eye safeguards for children in need Legislators pass bill to offer guardianship when kids with fetal alcohol disorders become adults

By Bonnie Miller Rubin
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 1, 2007

Janis Groner's daughter is only 13, but Groner already worries about what will happen five years from now, when her child is no longer a minor.

For any parent, the transition of a child to adulthood is frightening, but Groner's daughter has fetal alcohol syndrome, and though she may not show obvious signs of a disability, she has cognitive deficits with potentially lifelong implications.

"We've worked so hard to teach her skills and to keep her safe," said the Wheaton mother, who adopted her daughter from the state when the girl was 10 months old. "I'd sure hate to see all those efforts go down the drain."

That's why Groner and other parents of kids with fetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders are drumming up support for state legislation that would give them the same opportunity for guardianship as parents of children with cerebral palsy, autism and other developmental disabilities.

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Contributor: Peggy Seo Oba

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