Sir, – Through your columns can I thank the generous residents of Grangefield, ward councillors Carol and Michael Clark, Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger and Labour parliamentary candidate Louise Baldock for their support at the coffee morning at the Grays Road Institute, Stockton, that raised £175.50 for FASD Network UK to support parents and carers of children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The money will help provide information for families along with opportunities to connect families to one another for peer support and encouragement. Your kindness and generosity will make such a difference to families facing the daily challenges of raising children with disabilities.

FASD is the umbrella term for the physical, learning and behavioural impacts caused by pre-natal exposure to alcohol. FASD is a whole-life condition that is estimated to affect around 7,000 children every year in the UK and a baby a day in the North-East alone. While awareness of the issue is growing, there is still a huge amount of work for us to do to reduce the number of children born with this preventable disability, to train and equip professionals to understand the condition and to secure appropriate support for people parenting a child with FASD.

This week’s event was a fantastic step forward in that journey, so we seek to extend our gratitude to everyone who helped raise this much needed funding.

MARIA CATTERICK

FASD Network UK, www.fasdnetwork.org.

Stockton.