{"id":8733,"date":"2018-06-29T18:40:13","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T18:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8733"},"modified":"2018-06-29T18:40:13","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T18:40:13","slug":"trump-signs-order-to-end-separations-condemned-by-pediatricians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8733","title":{"rendered":"Trump Signs Order to End Separations Condemned by Pediatricians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Texas Pediatric Society has characterized the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents as \u201cinhumane and unnecessary.\u201d Photo: Gerald L. Nino<\/p><\/div>\n

by Eric Galatas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Following widespread outrage over the forced separation of children from their parents arrested on suspicion of entering the country illegally along the southern U.S. border, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to end the practice.<\/p>\n

Trump previously had said he could not end the separations, repeatedly blamed Democrats for them and said it was up to Congress to act.<\/p>\n

Both Republicans and Democrats strongly opposed the separations, as did many ordinary Americans, and
\nmedical and mental health experts.<\/p>\n

Dr. Dennis Conrad, president of the Texas Pediatric Society, says separating and institutionalizing children can put their health at substantial risk.<\/p>\n

He notes the initial impact is fairly clear to parents or anyone who has cared for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cPictures of them crying and screaming, and wishing to remain with their parents as they\u2019re forcibly removed, is evidence of the anxiety that they feel with that immediate separation and that fear,\u201d he states. \u201cThat creates what\u2019s called increased stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that stress continues over a period of time, Conrad says it creates what\u2019s known as a toxic stress environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren who actually are in a persisting toxic stress environment do not develop appropriately,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey\u2019re subject to anxiety, night terrors, fear of separation and other adverse consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conrad adds children separated for prolonged periods of time frequently don\u2019t recognize a parent for direction and guidance, which can create additional problems if they\u2019re reunited.<\/p>\n

Forced separations are not unprecedented in the U.S. Children of slaves were often sold away from their parents, and after the Wounded Knee massacre, officials moved Native American children into government or church-run boarding schools.<\/p>\n

Conrad says a\u00a0body of research<\/a>\u00a0shows how disrupting a family unit can lead to long-term consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have an increased risk for certain mental health problems, including depression,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey have a potential for having higher suicide rates when they\u2019re specifically looked at under those conditions. And they have a higher probability of substance abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Pediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics have publicly condemned the separation of children from parents at the U.S. border, calling the practice \u201cinhumane and unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Eric Galatas AUSTIN, Texas \u2013\u00a0Following widespread outrage over the forced separation of children from their parents arrested on suspicion of entering the country illegally along the southern U.S. border, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to end the practice. Trump previously had said he could not end the separations, repeatedly blamed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8735,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8733\/revisions\/8735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}