This article from NBC News shares perspectives of several child development researchers and other experts, including Nathan Fox (a child development specialist at the University of Maryland and one of the primary researchers in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project), regarding the impacts of family separation on children. The article is published in light of the recent US policy of separating families crossing the border into the United States from Mexico and placing children in shelters and detention centers. “They’re imprisoned and separated from their parents, who they look to for safety, security, love and protection," Fox said. "That will have a significant impact upon these children’s behavior and upon their mental health.”
“Once a country has the means, they abandon institutional care because it is known that this is not a great way for children to grow up,” claims Nim Tottenham, who studies child brain development at Columbia University. The article explains how the separations are often "sudden" and "violent," contributing to the children's trauma, whereas children who are separated from their parent(s) because of parental incarceration have time to plan and adjust to the separation. "Plus, the children of U.S. citizens convicted of crimes are not put into institutions, which were eliminated for young children in the U.S. long ago, Fox said. If a child is abused or neglected and if child protective services gets involved, the child is placed in a foster home." The article further discusses the possible long-term effects of separation on these children's brain development and wellbeing.