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Government Report: Separated Kids Traumatized

September 06, 2019 (1 min read)

Coleen Long, Martha Mendoza, Garance Burke, Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2019

"Children separated during the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance policy” last year, many already distressed in their home countries or by their journey, showed more fear, feelings of abandonment and post-traumatic stress symptoms than children who were not separated, according to a report Wednesday from the inspector general’s office in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The chaotic reunification process only added to their ordeal.

Some cried inconsolably. Some were angry and confused. “Other children expressed feelings of fear or guilt and became concerned for their parents’ welfare,” according to the report.

The child who believed his father was killed “ultimately required emergency psychiatric care to address his mental health distress,” a program director told investigators."

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