Kids detained at U.S. border at risk for 'potentially lifelong' health consequences, experts say

After several days of domestic and international condemnation of aU.S. immigration policy that has allowed more than 2,000 children to be taken away from their parents and put in detention facilities,U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive orderon Wednesday pledging to "maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate."

But there's no indication yet of how that order will affect the children who have already been separated from their families for up to two months.

Doctors, psychologists and other experts say children must be reunified with their families immediately to not only relieve thedistress thekids have experienced, but to sparethem "potentially lifelong consequences on their mental and physical health."

"Children are resilient and [the effect of]this is reversible, but only if the separation is brief," said Dr. Mahli Brindamour, a member of the Caring for Kids New to Canada task force with the Canadian Paediatric Society. "If that separation lasts for too long, then the damages can be irreparable."

Brindamour, a pediatrician in Saskatoon whose patients include immigrant and refugee children, said the Canadian Paediatric Society agrees with theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics's positionthat the U.S. practice is "government-sanctioned child abuse."

'Extreme' distress

Children forcibly taken from their families go through both immediate and long-term health issues, Brindamoursaid,starting with "extreme" distress and fear.

"[They can] cry for hours and hours. Eventually they will stop crying. However, they continue to face this intense trauma and intense agitation and over a few days and over a few weeks. That can lead to severe mental health problems."

Those problems can includedepression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and "selective mutism," in which a child develops an inability to speak in settingswhere they feel uncomfortable.

They can also suffer cognitive problems, including difficulty concentrating or learning.

If the traumatic situation doesn't change,it can also take a physical toll, Brindamoursaid, putting children at increased risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

There's a biological basis for many of the health problems that occur, saidPiaRebelloBritto, a psychologist and chief of early childhood development at UNICEF.

When facing intense stress, the body releases the hormone cortisol,meant to trigger the "fight or flight" response.

But if the hormone continues to be released as the child stays in that intenselytraumatic situation, the amount becomes"toxic,"RebelloBritto said, and can hamper brain cell connections andimpedenormal childhooddevelopment.

"It could even be that the structure of their brains is at risk," she said.

Changes in the brain

Studies of the brain scans of institutionalized children, including in orphanages in Romania, have shown less electrical activity than normal, meaning the brain is not engaging the way it should be, RebelloBrittosaid.

When young children are taken away from a parent or caregiverthey trust to not only keep them alive, but help them make sense of the world,a vital bond "gets severed."

That can lead to attachment and trust problems in relationships with others, as well as an inability to appropriately manage stress later on in life, she said.

But childrenhave an innate resilience, she said, so damage can be minimizedif officials move quickly to reunite children with their families.

"[If they can] give them back the love and the care they need, there is a possibility of reversal for young children," RebelloBrittosaid.

Trump's executive order says that children will still be held in detention but with their parents or family members. Although that may address the separation issue, being in detention still makes children susceptible to many of the same health risk, Brindamour said.

"Detention is of course not a normal or positive environment for children," Brindamour said. "They might spend days in secure facilities, they might be exposed to being searched, they might be surrounded by wire fences, they're not allowed to play outdoors.

"They might not have access to our regular schooling, education, play."

Canadian migrant children in detention

Keeping children in detention with their families happensin Canada apractice the CanadianPaediatricSociety also opposes.

In response to a CBCinquiry about the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) practice of detaining immigrant and refugee children, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodalesaid that in Canada, "children are detained only as a last resort."

"When parents are detained,CBSAofficers work with parents and child welfare authorities. While alternatives are always considered first, some parents prefer their children to be housed with them," press secretary Scott Bardsleysaid in an email on Wednesday.

"Immigration detention can only be used when there are serious concerns about flight risk, an individual being unidentified or a danger to the public."

Bardsley said that "in the coming weeks the CBSA will be announcing the implementation of new alternatives to detention such as community supervision which will help further reduce the use of detention."

RebelloBrittonoted that ifthe 2,000 children and parents currently separated in the U.S. are reunited, they willneed ongoing support to process what they've been through.

"[The parents] have suffered tremendous trauma themselves," she said.