The trauma of being separated (no matter how) from your parents is real.

Last edited Wed Jun 20, 2018, 10:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I can tell you from personal experience!

My father died when I was 7 from being injured in the Vietnam War.
Every night until I was about 13, I would go to bed and listen to hear any sound from my mom until I fell asleep. Any sound, a rattle of a newspaper, cough, the toilet flushing, her footsteps, a command to the dog, anything because she was all I had left. When I was old enough to be left alone, if she came home late (this was before cell phones), I would worry, be anchored to the living room to hear her coming back as soon as I could.

When I was 15 she had a stroke. It incapacitated her for the rest of her life. She only lived a few years beyond that, but had to be put into a rehab home because she lost all of her life skills. I lived by myself, trying to take care of her (we had a lot of toast, hot dogs, hamburgers and vanilla pudding) for 4 months in total fear that one day social services would come for me. Every time I left the house, I looked at it wistfully thinking I might not be allowed come back here, for I had to take care of my beloved dog.

Then one day it did happen...social services came to the school. Luckily they gave me 24 hours to find my own placement and for the grace of God, friends told the neighborhood Lutheran pastor of my plight. I was invited to live with them. But my fears didn't end...that first night, I hardly slept, every noise and footstep was foreign to me...would I fit in as a foster child, would I learn their traditions. Every day for the two years I was there, in the back of my mind, I thought however irrationally, this placement could end today. It caused me to ignore my heritage for about 20 years afterwards. And even while those foster parents were alive, it wasn't til the past ten years that I overcame the reluctance to show fidelity to both my original family and my foster family.

So for anyone who says these little children separated from their families won't affect the rest of their lives, please talk with me, I can tell you differently. And I was lucky my separation was forced by the health and death of my parents not the goverment and I got to choose my placement. These familiy breakups are done on purpose, to children a lot younger than I and with a much more limited command of our language than I had. I can just imagine the bitterness and betrayal of our government these children will feel when they grow up!

Mr trump...re-unite these families now!!!!! you have already done enough damage to satisfy your sensitive ego!!!!