Why is the separation of children from parents really serious? From Bowlby to cries of migrant children in Texas

Photos of cages, tearful children's audio who called their mother or father. The history of minors separated from their parents on the Texas border has hit many consciences everywhere. Rumors and poignant, unacceptable images that provoked a revolt in global public opinion, so strong that she decisively contributed to the Trump administration's turn on the choice of divorced parents who were attempting to illegally enter the United States through their underage children. About 2,500 children were involved from early May to mid-June. Now, gradually, families can come together.

The separation of a child from a parent is a concrete, real and dramatic problem. It is not just human compbadion (which is still worth exercising and training). The effects of a violent and sudden or prolonged separation of a child from his baseline are predictive of anxiety, depression and behavioral problems. In severe cases, this deprivation may lead to regression and extremely serious psychopathological disorders. That children can stay with their parents is an almost obvious statement for us. In reality, it is a recent scientific discovery, since it dates back to the 50s of the last century. John Bowlby, who is responsible for the theory of attachment on which the whole psychology of the modern child rests, was the first to be separated and lost since 1930. In the early 1950s, the work " Maternal care "has been published. and mental health, "commissioned by the WHO to Bowlby himself.For the first time, it was written in black and white that there was scientific evidence of negative psychological effects on children from long periods of "maternal deprivation" (or lack of relationship and contact with the baseline numbers). Until then, the fundamental role of attachment and proximity to the reference figures had never been In the following decades, numerous studies have shown that this deprivation has consequences on brain development, learning and physical health.

Children When they are separated from the reference characters, they face three phases: protest, despair and detachment.These are phases that we also see in situations to It is normal and daily, but increases considerably if the separation is violent or prolonged. For example, if at the time of separation the mother or father (or reference figure) are scared, altered, desperate as could be illegal immigrants who have attempted to enter Texas, for Child's experience of separation becomes a real drama that can influence the normal emotional development of the child.

Think, for example, to what degree of care and attention is put into the insertions of small children in kindergartens or even kindergartens. And the recommendations of teachers to greet, smile, serenely and without worry their children. Think with what meticulousness we observe the detachments and the reactions (of the mother or the father and the child) at the moment of the separation and in the following phases: the context more or less familiar counts, the presence of Other figures count (in this case the teachers and teachers) who can comfort and help the child to overcome the difficulty of the detachment, account the serenity of the parents at the separation and at the time of the meeting. This is not an excess of zeal: it is to get the child used to stay in a "safe place" that is not the family as before, but the asylum or the school. If we think of the opposite extreme, the 2,500 illegal immigrant children experienced, on the contrary, a violent separation and for them inexplicable, saw the desperation of their families and children and families around the world. They are found in a not very welcoming environment or in which they could find alternative treatments . They have had an experience that is likely to severely mark their lives and future relationships.