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Expert: Splitting parents and kids causes lifelong trauma

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As debates rage over immigration policy and separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, Hirokazu Yoshikawa tackles the question of what happens to kids after child separation.

“For a child to be separated from their parent in a forced separation like what’s occurring in many immigrant families in our country is one of the most traumatic events that could happen in life and when that relationship is torn apart it can create a level of trauma and immediate and ongoing stress that has lifelong consequences,” says Yoshikawa, professor of globalization and education in the applied psychology department at New York University’s Steinhardt School.

Here, Yoshikawa explains the consequences of child separation for children’s mental health and social wellbeing.

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Source: NYU