(KXNET) — Senate Bill 2335 was presented to the Human Services Committee on Monday.

The bill looks to add more training across many agencies to help treat fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, also known as FASD.

“FASD is an umbrella diagnosis much like Autism Spectrum Disorder that encompasses a number of diagnoses,” said Executive Director of FASD-ND, Carl Young.

These diagnoses include fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, and alcohol-related neurodevelopment disorder.

To Young, this disorder hits close to home.

“As a parent of a child with FASD,” said Young, “I can tell you with certainty that the school-to-prison pipeline is an unmitigated success. Our son was diagnosed at the age of 15 because he lacked the facial features that were in the initial diagnostic criteria for FAS.”

Young describes the difficulty and challenges his own son, who is an adult now, faces because of this disorder.

“He is 21 currently and is housed at the Cass County Jail in Fargo,” said Young. “Prior to that, he was in prison for arson. He has had more than a dozen charges in the last three years, including six felonies.”

According to studies over the years, alcohol has been determined to be very harmful to an unborn child — and little is known about the impact and the syndrome it causes.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder hurts a person’s brain functions, and as such, many people with this have the mental capacity of a child well into adulthood. Young says because of this, his son has no support and frequently gets into trouble with the law.

“We do not excuse his behavior,” Young continued. “We blame his symptoms. To quote him, ‘dad, I can’t get support — most don’t have what they call the capacity to help me.’ In addition, because of the felony convictions, he has a difficult time finding adequate employment and housing.”

Dr. Larry Burd, with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says 8.4% (or one out of 12) of pregnant women in North Dakota drink throughout pregnancy.

He says early screenings are essential to a child suffering from FASD so that they can receive the appropriate treatment.