The appearance of unaccompanied minors and children with parents from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras seeking asylum in the United States is not a new phenomenon. It has existed for decades as their countries spiraled into unlivable violence, poverty, and governmental and police inaction. To develop interventions and establish services for these children alone and those in family units, we must understand the traumatic forces that propel their migration and the trauma that is suffered along the way, including in US custody. This webinar presents the plight of Central American children and parents who spent time in immigration detention centers after fleeing their countries and transiting through Mexico. The effects of the family separation policy of 2018 and the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” better known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy are discussed in the context of the effects on children’s attachment reactions and family reunification. Interventions and services for these children and families after their release are discussed. Warning: The webinar includes pictures and videos of violence and children’s reactions to separation that may be disturbing to some viewers.
Warning: The webinar includes pictures and videos of violence and children’s reactions to separation that may be disturbing to some viewers.
Learning objectives:
Understand the many layers of trauma (pre-migration, in-transit, post-migration) that asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors and parents and children experience.
Recognize the effects of immigration detention and family separation on the attachment reactions of children.
Consider the various interventions and services that children and parents need and can benefit from.
Who should attend? This is an intermediate level workshop designed for mental health providers, school mental health providers, and school administrators.
About the presenter:
Luis H. Zayas, PhD, is the Dean, Professor, and the Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work; and Professor of Psychiatry at the Dell Medical School of The University of Texas at Austin. In addition to numerous papers in scientific journals, Dr. Zayas is the author of Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families, and Daughters Collide (Oxford, 2011) and Forgotten Citizens: Deportation, Children, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans (Oxford, 2015).