Future Directions in the Study and Treatment of Parent-Child Separation

Children require adult caregivers to survive and thrive. In the absence of committed and nurturing care, children face increased risk for a number of difficulties, including internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, cognitive and language deficits, and social difficulties. Recent changes in the U.S. immigration system have resulted in a large number of children removed from their parents, drawing increased scrutiny to the impact of parent-child separation and best practices for caring for children who have been separated. Drawing from work on children exposed to institutional care, as well as research on children separated from caregivers due to validated abuse and neglect, it is clear that children belong in families that are safe and supportive and that some forms of substitute care (i.e., institutional or group-based care) are insufficient to meet children's needs. However, it is difficult to know the specific impact of parent-child separation on child outcomes given that stressors often cluster and pre-separation experiences and post-separation placements also contribute to the experience of separation from a parent and subsequent functioning. Attempts to parse the specific contributions of each separation-related stressor, examining sensitive periods in the impact of separation, studying the mechanisms by which separations affect children, and consideration of the broader social and political context are useful future directions for moving this area of study forward. We must also more fully probe the roles that caregivers play in child development. Lastly, we must endeavor to cease practices of removing children from loving and capable caregivers and, when necessary, provide support to parents and children who have experienced separation.