Tragic separations of families ~ echo letter from The News Gazette in Central Illinois

Tragically, the USA, our country and our government, is complicit in immoral separations of families at our border. 

Echo opinion letter from Illinois.

USA agents are meeting families at our border, forcibly taking the children away from the parents, keeping the children in physically and emotionally dangerous situations, and not telling the parents how or when they will get their kids back.

In one case, ICE separated an 18-month-old baby from his father for months.

As a licensed clinical professional counselor, I have worked with people who experienced traumatic separation from their parents as kids.

Here's what they often feel: depression (feeling like it was their fault and they are bad); anxiety (scared and constantly looking around for the next threat); and attachment problems (having trouble getting along in relationships with others later in life).

Research is starting to show that childhood trauma sits in your body and brain for the rest of your life and goes on to impact your kids and your kids' kids through epigenetics and gene expression.

One instance of childhood trauma, like a separation from your parents, can help create future mental health problems in your family for generations.

We can all agree our immigration policies need to change. 

Nevertheless, right now, as a nation and as a government, we are literally traumatizing generations of kids and families. 

How can we look ourselves in the eye? 

An echo opinion from Colleen Azis, in Urbana, Illinois