Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) 
                Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHCRQ)
                Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
                Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
                Indian Health Service (IHS)
                National Institutes of Health (NIH)
                        National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
                        National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)        
                Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

        Department of Education (DED)
                Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSER)

        Department of Justice (DOJ)
                Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

Other Federal agencies and NIH Institutes are invited to participate in working groups and to co-sponsor activities of the ICCFAS. Representatives from the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndome (NOFAS), the FAS Family Resource Institute, the American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, and FAS organizations at state level regularly attend meetings.

The objectives of the Committee are to exchange information and to coordinate Federal strategies and programs in an effort to more effectively address FAS/ARND on a national level. The Committee will promote and facilitate the development of projects within member organizations and collaborative projects and cooperative programs between member agencies. Specifically, these projects will be designed to:

• Improve health care, education, and correctional interventions for affected children and adults with FAS
  
  
• Improve the quality of intervention and alcohol treatment for women of childbearing age
  
  
• Improve diagnosis of FAS and alcohol-related neurological defects
  
  
• Foster basic research to identify mechanisms of alcohol teratogenesis, leading to improved interventions and treatments.
  
  
• Improve communication among basic research, clinical research, education, and service-provider communities and educate communities and health-care professionals
  
  
• Improve ability to screen and prevent drinking during pregnancy

From 1996-2000, the first four years after the establishment of the ICCFAS, the member organizations identified high priority activities that were critical to the population served or to the expansion of their fetal alcohol related programs. The areas of high priority for the first four years were: information dissemination and outreach; prevention of drinking during pregnancy; intervening with children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure; improving diagnosis and case identification; and making progress on the etiology and pathogenesis of FAS and Alcohol Related Neurological Deficits (ARND). From 2001-2005 member agencies will greatly expand the scope of activities in each of these areas, and the Committee will continue to sponsor workshops and conferences to stimulate research and transfer information to the public and professional groups.

Since l996 much has been accomplished by individual agencies in expanding or adapting existing programs to address FAS/ARND. New initiatives have been developed by some agencies and others have made progress by expanding the awareness of the professional groups and communities they serve. ICCFAS organizations have worked together to co-sponsor projects, have participated in the development of plans for projects and reviewed the progress made on initiatives of member organizations. In some cases, complementary initiatives have been developed. In other instances, the programs of a member organization that have the potential to address issues related to FAS are being used as a foundation for action by another organizations.

Coordination with the Department of Education Working Group on FAS/FAE and The National Task Force on FAS/FAE:

Among the new activities to be undertaken by the ICCFAS over the next few years will be coordinating with the Department of Education FAS/ARND working group and the congressionally mandated, newly established National Task Force on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE). In l999 the Department of Education (DEd) expressed an interest in assuring that education and childcare professionals develop a better understanding of FAS/ARND and that they are prepared to fully participate with others in addressing the issues. Thus, the Working Group on FAS/ARND was formed and is administered jointly by the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council (FICC) and the ICCFAS.

It has assumed primary responsibility for developing a plan of action for intervening with children with FAS aged 0 to 8 years and their families. The Working Group comprises representatives from the ICCFAS agencies, the mental health field, educators, early childhood psychologists, counselors, FAS research scientists, and parents of children with FAS/ARND. Other ICCFAS member agencies will continue to be very active in the area of programs for school-aged children. In addition to participating in the identification of methods for the early diagnosis of children with FAS/ARND, over the next five years the Working Group and other ICCFAS member agencies will focus their efforts in the following areas:

1) clarifying ethical and confidentiality issues involved in conducting screening and assessment in schools and other early intervention settings;

2) identifying and refining appropriate intervention strategies to effectively serve children and families with FAS/FAE in school settings and to prevent secondary disabilities; and

3) providing intensive, effective, and ongoing training and technical assistance to teachers and other professionals responsible for the care and education of children.

The National Task Force is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is a thirteen member committee charged with advising all federal, state, and local agencies, and professional groups on FAS and FAE programs, including research on education and public awareness for service providers, school-age children, women at risk, and the general public. The Task Force is also charged with providing advice to these entities on programs and research matters concerning medical diagnosis and interventions for women at risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy, as well as interventions for children with FAS/FAE and their families.

Workshops and Conferences:

To develop a common understanding of the status of areas critical to addressing FAS, the ICCFAS has sponsored the following workshops and working-group meetings since 1997. For most, reports have been developed and widely circulated. All have resulted in an increase in research and demonstration projects in the topic area. Workshops have been well attended by research scientists and representatives from family support organizations, states, and advocacy groups. Over 25 academic institutions have been represented in the various meetings and workshops of the ICCFAS. Several ICCFAS organizations have issued requests for grant applications related to their mission following a conference.