Declaration on the Proposed Separation of Undocumented Mothers and Children at U.S. Border Crossings
Written by the Child Advisory Network regarding the Well-Being of Children Served by Homeland Security.
See full list of signatories at the bottom of the declaration.
As child development and well-being researchers and practitioners, the Child Advisory Network strongly denounces the policy currently under consideration by Homeland Security Secretary Kelly that would separate undocumented women and children who have illegally crossed the U.S. border, including those seeking asylum. We write this statement to call attention to the irreparable harm that enacting such a policy would cause to children. We urge Secretary Kelly and leaders in Congress to consider any potential deterrent effect to parents of the proposed policy in the context of those life-altering consequences for the welfare and well-being of children.
The Child Advisory Network was created in March, 2017, to support the dissemination of best practices in the protection, welfare, and well-being of immigrant children in contact with Homeland Security through research, public awareness and advocacy, and participation in public discussions of immigration policies that do not harm children. The Child Advisory Network operates with the support of the Child Welfare and Well-Being Research Unit at Rutgers University. Its members include a diverse group of educators, community leaders, social workers, physicians, psychologists, lawyers, economists, child development specialists, and public health practitioners from across the United States.
Setting aside whether or not separating children from their caregivers would actually serve as a deterrent to crossing the border without a visa, the devastation a traumatic separation would cause for children, many of whom have already experienced challenging circumstances, far outweighs any intended policy benefit.
Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that children develop best in the context of safe, supportive, and nurturing relationships. Positive relationships with caregivers are essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional growth. For traumatized children, these ties are even more important, as caregivers help children regulate their emotions and establish a sense of safety. When children are unnecessarily separated from their caregiver, they are at risk of falling behind in many ways: their physical and mental health suffers as does their ability to learn and grow. These trauma effects are not short lived. They can last a lifetime, even causing early death.
The costs to society of separating children from their caregivers are also unimaginably high. We know that children who fall behind need investments in all domains and are likely to need more public support and services as adults. Children and youth who experience the trauma of unnecessary separations are more likely to suffer from toxic stress, maltreatment, have undiagnosed or untreated mental and physical health conditions, learning difficulties, and experience poverty. It is far more cost effective to prevent additional trauma than to bear the burden of remediating it down the road.
We, the undersigned, urge the Department of Homeland Security and leaders in Congress to enact policies that keep families together and emphasize the developmental needs of children. This is the only policy that makes sense for the welfare and well-being of children.
Margarita Alegria, Ph.D.
Professor
Harvard Medical School
Bill Baccaglini
President & Chief Executive Officer
The New York Foundling
Richard P. Barth, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
Past-President of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare
University of Maryland School of Social Work
Jodi Berger Cardoso, Ph.D., LCSW
Assistant Professor
University of Houston
Karen L. Bierman, Ph.D.
Evan Pugh University Professor
Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
Emily Bosk, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Kate Breslin, MPH
President and CEO
Schuyler Center for Analysis & Advocacy
Ajay Chaudry, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service
New York University
Dante Cicchetti, Ph.D.
McKnight Presidential Chair
William Harris Professor and
Professor of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Institute of Child Development,
University of Minnesota
Mark Courtney, Ph.D.
Professor,
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago
Jess Dannhauser
President and CEO,
Graham Windham
Deborah Daro, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
Chapin Hall
University of Chicago
Jorge Delva, MSW, PhD.
Kristine A. Siefert Collegiate Professor of Social Work
Director, Community Engagement Program, MICHR
University of Michigan
Alan J. Dettlaff, Ph.D.
Dean and Maconda Brown O’Connor Endowed Dean’s Chair
Graduate College of Social Work
University of Houston
Mary Dozier, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Delaware
Donald N. Duquette, J.D.
Clinical Professor Emeritus of Law;
Founding Director, Child Advocacy Law Clinic
University of Michigan Law School
Jacquelynn Duron, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Megan Finno-Velasquez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
New Mexico State University
Philip A. Fisher, Ph.D.
Philip H. Knight Chair & Professor of Psychology
University of Oregon
Cynthia Garcia Coll, Ph.D.
Professor
Albizu University
Infant-Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona
Justin Jager, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University
Neeraj Kaushal, Ph.D.
Professor of Social Policy
Columbia University
Alicia F. Lieberman, Ph.D.
Irving B. Harris Endowed Chair in
Infant Mental Health and Professor
Department of Psychiatry,
University of California San Francisco
Michael Lewis, Ph.D.
University Distinguished Professor
Director, Institute for the Study of Child Development
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Erika Lunkeheimer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Associate Director, Child Maltreatment Solutions Network
The Pennsylvania State University
Suniya Luthar, Ph.D.
Foundation Professor of Psychology
Arizona State University
Michael J. MacKenzie, Ph.D., MSW
Chancellor’s Scholar for Child Well-Being
Associate Professor of Social Work & Pediatrics
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Jennifer March, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, Inc.
Jeanne C. Marsh, PhD, MSW
George Herbert Jones Distinguished Service Professor
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago
Vonnie McCloyd, Ph.D.
Ewart A.C. Thomas Collegiate Professor of Psychology
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Sarah McMahon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Rutgers School of Social Work
Richard J Murnane, Ph.D.
Research Professor,
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Charles A. Nelson, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics, Neuroscience and
Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School
Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric
Developmental Medicine Research,
Boston Children’s Hospital
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Education
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA
Kerrie Ocasio, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
Rutgers University, School of Social Work
Sheryl Olson, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of Michigan
Lawrence A. Palinkas, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Children, Youth and Families
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
University of Southern California
Robert Pianta, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
University of Virginia
Ellen Pinderhughes, Ph.D.
Professor of Child Study and Human Development
Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development
Tufts University
Judy Postmus, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Social Work
Director, Center on Violence Against Women and Children
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Cathryn C. Potter, Ph.D.
Dean and Distinguished Professor
School of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Kathleen J. Pottick, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Social Work & Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
James Purcell
CEO
Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies
Ramesh Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Professor
School of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Katherine L. Rosenblum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Women & Infant Mental Health Program
Co-Director, Infant & Early Childhood Clinic
Department of Psychiatry
University of Michigan
Arnold J. Sameroff, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
University of Michigan
Sandy Santana, J.D.
Executive Director
Children’s Rights
Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D.
Professor of Child Health and Development
Harvard University
Cassandra Simmel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Frank Spain
NYC and Non-Profit Sector Child Welfare Administrator
L. Alan Sroufe, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus,
Institute of Child Development
University of Minnesota
Miriam Steele, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
New School for Social Research
Howard Steele, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Psychology
New School for Social Research
Carola Suarez-Orozco, Ph.D.
Professor, Human Development & Psychology
UCLA
Jeanette C. Takamura, Ph.D.
Professor
Columbia University School of Social Work
Mark F. Testa, Ph.D.
Child Welfare Scholar &
Social Work Professor
University of Chicago
Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Ph.D.
Foundation Professor
Arizona State University
Donna VanAlst, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
Rutgers University
William Waldman
Professor of Professional Practice
School of Social Work
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Robert Weigand
Director, Child Development Laboratory
Cowden Distinguished Principal Lecturer of Family & Human Development
T. Denny Sanford School of Social & Family Dynamics
Arizona State University
William Weisberg, Ph.D.
Executive Director,
Forestdale Inc.
Rebecca M.B. White, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Arizona State University
Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Ph.D.
University Professor
New York University
Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D.
Dean, and Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy
School of Social Work
The University of Texas at Austin
Charles H. Zeanah, M.D.
Mary Sellars Polchow Professor of Psychiatry
Vice Chair for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Tulane University School of Medicine
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