What separation from parents does to children: ‘The effect is catastrophic’

The following article by William Wan was posted on the Washington Post website June 18, 2018:

Dr. Louis Kraus, a child psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center, said the separation of migrant children from their families could have severe effects. (Video: Patrick Martin/Photo: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents.

Their heart rate goes up. Their body releases a flood of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Those stress hormones can start killing off dendrites — the little branches in brain cells that transmit mes­sages. In time, the stress can start killing off neurons and — especially in young children — wreaking dramatic and long-term damage, both psychologically and to the physical structure of the brain. Continue reading “What separation from parents does to children: ‘The effect is catastrophic’”