FASD is a Kākou Thing

Our Mission & Vision, Founder & Team, History & Status

Mission & Vision

Our Mission is to raise awareness through education, advocacy, and research on the impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on individuals, their families, and the communities of Hawai’i.
Our Vision – Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Invisible no more.

Our Values

COMPASSION: No one drinks to harm their child. Let’s be kind to ourselves and each other and focus on both prevention efforts and supporting special needs. Alcohol use in our community is very complicated, blame and shame don’t help us move forward.

COMPLEXITY: Many of our social, education, and public health systems in Hawaiʻi are just learning about prevalence and how complex FASD is. It will take time and a community effort to involve all the right people and systems.

CURIOUSITY: FASD informed-approaches and interventions can be tried even before a formal diagnosis is made. It’s okay to wonder about how to help. Asking curious and kind questions is a good way to learn.

Founder & Team

Ann S. Yabusaki, Ph.D, MFT

Ann S. Yabusaki, Ph.D, MFT

Founder & Director

Alan H. Shinn

Alan H. Shinn

President

Stephanie W. Batzer, Esq., LSW, LLM

Stephanie W. Batzer, Esq., LSW, LLM

Secretary

Kenichi Yabusaki

Kenichi Yabusaki

Treasurer

Jane Onoye, Ph.D.

Jane Onoye, Ph.D.

Arlina J. Wong

Arlina J. Wong

Erika Phelps Nishiguchi, MD

Erika Phelps Nishiguchi, MD

Management Team

The Board of Directors will be active in the day-to-day operations in support of the Executive Director.  To contain costs initially we plan to utilize volunteers, contractors and partner resources until we have funding for fulltime administrative staff.

Advisory Board

An advisory board comprised of caregivers, representatives from agencies, and state departments who serve people with FASD, community coalitions, research groups in the community such as the University of Hawaii Center for Disability Studies and the state epidemiological research group. Because this is a voluntary Board, we recognize the challenges of engaging people and agencies across the state to participate.

Our Team

Amanda M. Luning, LMHC, IECMH-E®

Amanda M. Luning, LMHC, IECMH-E®

Executive Director

Claire Barnes

Claire Barnes

Student Intern

Advisors & Partners

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Our Current Work

Content coming soon…

History & Status

Hawai’i Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Action Group started in Hawai’i in 2016 as a collaborative group of volunteers to conduct research, raise awareness, and promote FASD education. We partnered with The Coalition of Drug-Free Hawai’i since 2016 and FASD Communities became our fiscal sponsor in 2018.

In 2020, the HIFASDAG group of volunteers and advisors grew to over two hundred members and a decision was made to incorporate and form a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. The founders, Board, and volunteers had spent tireless hours in legislative advocacy, community training, and direct support to families, all on their own precious time for a cause they believed in.

In 2022 The Action Group received a Grant-In-Aid from the Office of Community Services and began direct exploration of the status of FASD prevalence and support needs in organizations serving families and individuals in Hawai’i.

This work led the Board to hiring their first ever Executive Director in 2024 to continue the policy and integration work necessary to explore compassion, curiosity and acknowledgement of complexity around FASD and invisible disability into our greater systems and communities.