Separating Families at the Border — Consequences for Children’s Health and Well-Being

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Abstract
Decades of research on child development confirms that children develop best in the context of safe, supportive, nurturing relationships.1 Positive relationships with primary caregivers are essential for children’s healthy physical and emotional development. For children who experience serious traumas, parents provide an essential protective shield and help children regulate their emotions and reestablish a sense of safety, which affects their stress-response system (the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis) and their growth, health, and well-being.2 Conversely, if children are unnecessarily and traumatically removed from their parents, their physical and mental health and well-being will suffer. The effects of traumatic experiences — especially in children who have already faced serious adversity — are unlikely to be short lived: cumulative adversity can last a lifetime, even increasing the risk of early death.3

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