Family Empowerment Network

The Family Empowerment Network (FEN) is celebrating its second anniversary in the Department of Family Medicine this month. Its core services provide clinical outreach, education, and support to families at risk for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). With support from the Bureau of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, FEN works with women at high risk for alcohol abuse through state-funded alcohol treatment centers throughout Wisconsin.

As you may know, Wisconsin leads the nation in both reported frequent alcohol consumption among women aged 18-44 and binge drinking by pregnant women. Georgiana Wilton, PhD directs the network and the overall clinical research program, Patricia Cameron provides education and training with families that are living with someone who has FASD and Raina Zwadzich is a family advocate. The network recently received two funding awards to expand FEN's programming to address these issues. The first award from the CDC is the Wisconsin FASD Prevention and Intervention Project, a joint project between the PI, Paul Moberg PhD, from the Department of Population Health and Dr Wilton from DFM. This multi-phase $1.7M four-year project will address FASD by increasing awareness, screening women at-risk, providing brief intervention to reduce risk levels, increasing clinical capacity to diagnose FASD, and developing a surveillance system for FASD in Wisconsin.

Georgiana Wilton, PhD is the PI for the second project funded for five years to expand and evaluate the FASD Clinic housed at the UW Waisman Center. This clinic is a collaborative effort between the Departments of Family Medicine, Pediatrics, and Medical Genetics and the Waisman Center. In addition to colleagues in these departments, David Brown PhD from DFM will be part of the evaluation team. This $500,000 contract will facilitate a statewide assessment of clinical and outreach services available to families, and the development of a multidisciplinary clinic that will target children ages 18 months - 16 years.

These opportunities allow FEN to hire several new staff to expand collaboration with colleagues in the Medical School and to develop increased services to address this underserved need in Wisconsin. For additional information visit our FEN Web site or contact Georgiana Wilton, PI at 261-1419.