Twenty-year-old Will Seward sips coffee. (MARC LESTER — Anchorage Daily News) August 7, 2013 Twenty-year-old Will Seward sips coffee at the start of his day. His mom, Carol, describes Will as kind and eager to please. She says he has occasionally struggled with mental health issues. In moments of crisis, he has heard voices telling […]
Meet the Family
Carol Hatch, 64, wanted to be a mom and provide care for children for as long as she can remember. She grew up in Seward and has Aleut heritage. In 1985, she moved to Anchorage and briefly taught kindergarten and second grade before quitting to care for foster children full time. Over the years, Carol […]
Carol Hatch steers six alcohol-damaged children into adulthood
Carol Hatch has six adopted children, now adults, who have each been diagnosed with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She has fostered dozens of others. (MARC LESTER — Anchorage Daily News) For a quarter-century, Carol Hatch has lived in a big brown house off Arctic Boulevard, raising a family not quite like any other in […]
Alcohol & Me: ‘It’s a human tragedy’
As a state senator 25 years ago, John Binkley filed a several bills to combat fetal alcohol syndrome in Alaska. His effort had a lasting impact in many ways. Now, teachers must undergo training on the disorders and every alcohol-serving establishment must post a warning to pregnant women. […]
‘I know I made a difference’: A report from the frontlines of Alaska’s fight against FASD
The Daily News will publish the next two installments of our ongoing fetal alcohol syndrome coverage on Saturday and Sunday, including a look at how, despite success in reducing rates across Alaska, the state has missed many opportunities to combat the disability. Among the people featured in the story is Ellen Sovalik of Barrow. […]
The Hatch Family
Can one mom’s devotion to her kids overcome lifelong FASD struggles? To the Daily News: I read with interest about the ADN project regarding alcohol and the tremendous influence it has on the people of Alaska. I would like to offer my family’s experience living with the effects of alcohol misuse. I am the adoptive […]
‘No-sell’ list of Anchorage drinkers, money for treatment win Senate support
A $5 million proposal that includes plans to create a “no-sell list” of people banned from buying alcohol in Anchorage has cleared a key hurdle, winning support from the Senate Finance Committee. The committee included the project, which also calls for comprehensive treatment and case management for the city’s costliest problem drinkers, in the $1.9 […]
‘Nothing’s ever going to be the same’
Until a friend found his body last month outside a Fairview warehouse, Gregory Jack spent decades volunteering and dining just a few blocks away at the Bean’s Cafe. Friends and family gathered Wednesday to mourn the 59-year-old at the soup kitchen. One of those attending, Art Ivanoff, says he lost his closest friend. The […]
Under fire, Kelly says FASD prevention group remains ‘hesitant’ to embrace free birth control
Under fire for his remarks on birth control in this Daily News Q&A, Sen. Pete Kelly told colleagues today that his FASD prevention think tank might one day embrace contraception as a prevention tool but is instead focused on free pregnancy tests for now. “We’re hesitant to say, ‘Use birth control as your protection against […]