Separated: Inside an American Tragedy

by Jacob Soboroff

I continued with Gura until we ran into technical difficulties, but rejoined him the next hour, this time with Dr. Colleen Kraft, the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who in May when the zero tolerance policy was announced wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. Kraft had eviscerated the policy on the grounds that the damage it would inflict on children would never be reversed. Studies overwhelmingly demonstrate the irreparable harm caused by breaking up families. Prolonged exposure to highly stressful situations—known as toxic stress—can disrupt a child’s brain architecture and affect his or her short- and long-term health. A parent or a known caregiver’s role is to mitigate these dangers. When robbed of that buffer, children are susceptible to learning deficits and chronic conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even heart disease. The government’s practice of separating children from their parents at the border counteracts every science-based recommendation I have ever made to families who seek to build, and not harm, their children’s intellectual and emotional development.