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US Watchdog: Migrant Children Separated From Parents Were Distressed

Ken Bredemeier

   Migrant children who were separatedfrom their parentsby U.S. agentsat
   the U.S.-Mexican border last year suffered significant distress,
   feelings of abandonment and other serious mental health issues,a
   government watchdog concluded Wednesday.
   The inspector general's office at the Department of Health and Human
   Services said the plight of the separated children--at least 2,500 and
   likely many more--was worse than for the migrant children who were kept
   with their parents after the undocumented families, mostly from Central
   American countries, crossed the border to flee violence and poverty in
   their homelands to seek asylum in the United States.
   The report, based on interviews with about 100 mental health workers
   who had interactions with the separated children, was the first attempt
   by the government to assess the effects of the breakup of the families.
   The American Civil Liberties Union, which won court orders to force the
   government to return the children to their parents, said the average
   separation lasted 154 days, although some of the children are still
   believed to be separated from their parents.

   Tears, anger, confusion
   The watchdog said those caring for the children reported that some
   cried inconsolably, while others believed their parents had abandoned
   them and were angry and confused.
   "Other children expressed feelings of fear or guilt and became
   concerned for their parents' welfare," the report said.
   In one instance, the report said a boy, about 7 or 8 years old, was
   separated from his father and did not know why, but believed that his
   fatherhad beenkilled and that he would be, too.
   "This child ultimately required emergency psychiatric care to address
   his mental health distress," a program director told investigators.
   One clinician, according to the report, told investigators, "You get a
   lot of'my chest hurts,' even though everything is fine[medically].
   Children describe symptoms--`every heartbeathurts,''I can't feel my
   heart'--of emotional pain."

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