Child displacement is the complete removal or separation of

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

from their parents and immediate

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

or settings in which they have initially been reared. Displaced children includes varying categories of children who experience separation from their families and social settings due to several varied reasons. These populations include children separated from their

parent A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are First-degree relative, first-degree relatives and have ...

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

,Alfredson, Lisa, (2002) 'Child Soldiers, Displacement and Human Security', 4 Disarmament Forum pp. l 7-27 children sent to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

s,CWAB - Session 6.2 - Reasons for displacement
European Union – Canada project Child welfare across borders (2003) internally displaced persons or IDPs, and

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...

. Thus child displacement refers to a broad range of factors due to which children are removed from their parents and social setting. This include

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, armed conflict and disruption and separation for varied reasons. According to

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), as of 2002, there were approximately 22 million displaced children in the world, several of whom are displaced for a very long time spanning years. Children in worst affected areas in armed conflict or disruption face an average of 6 to 7 years of displacement. The internationally accepted and acknowledged definition of a "

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

" is anyone who is under the age of 18 regardless of any context.

Forms

* Internal Displacement – involves relocation of children from areas or geographical locations caught in strife during

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

or armed conflicts. Currently there are about 13.5 million internally displaced children around the world. * Planned Displacement – includes relocation of children away from their parents by Government as per policy e.g.: American Indian Boarding schools, removal from non custodial parent because of divorce proceedings, separation due to boarding schools, relocation of children with relatives (

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

care) for economic or social reasons, removal of children from family by

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

for judicial reasons. Purposeful displacement includes relocation of children from areas of conflict in order to avoid recruitment into war. * Large-scale Displacement – involves refugees, asylum seekers, and child soldiers

Psychological effects of disruption in parent–child relationships

Psychologists A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

and social-behavioral scientists agree that children thrive better both psychologically and developmentally in two-parent families.Amato, P. R. (2000) The consequences of

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

for adults and children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1269-1287 John Bowlby (1969) stated that there is a sensitive period that was sensitive to the development of attachment, during which attachment is easily formed between the child and its parents.Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss: Vol I Attachment. New York: Basic Books. Early research on adoptions gives support to this view,Yarrow, L. J. & Goodwin, M (1973) The immediate impact of separation: Reactions of infants to a change in mother figures. In L. J. Stone, H. T. Smith, & L. B. Murphy (Eds), The competent infant (pp. 1032-1040). New York: Basic Books. though scholars state that the sensitive period is actually quite extensive.Rutter, M (1972) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. London:Penguin This might imply that children need longer period of interaction with their parents than previously thought.

Effects on attachment development

The development of attachment occurs as a result of the process of reciprocal interaction between parent and the child. This reciprocal interaction helps the child to discriminate its parents from others and helps develop emotional relationships with its parents.Lamb, M (2003) "Child development and the Law" in Handbook of Psychology, Vol 6 p559-577. Infant-parent attachment helps to develop psychological security, self-confidence and enables the development of trust in other humans.Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S (1978) Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, New Jersey:Relbaum.Lamb, M.E. (1981) The development of social expectations in the first year of life. In M. E. Lamb & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Infant social cognition: Empirical and theoretical considerations (pp. 155-175). Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum. The amount of time spend together is not the only factor that influences the development of attachments. Some threshold level of interaction is also needed for attachment to develop. A threshold level of interaction is required to establish attachments, and regular opportunities for interaction are crucial. Children in both single-parent and two-parent families seem to be better adjusted when they enjoy warm and affirmative interactions with two parents who are actively involved.Amato, P.R. & Gilbreth (1999). Nonresident fathers and children's well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of marriage and the Family, 61: 557-573. Empirical literature shows that children need regular interaction with attachment figures in order to maintain relationships.Lamb, M. E. (2002a). Infant-father attachments and their impact on child development. In C. S. Tamis-LeMonda & N. Cabrera (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 93–117). Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum. Extended separation of the child from either of the parent is detrimental as it hinders the development of attachment and relationship between the child and the parent.Bowlby J (1973). Separation: Anxiety & Anger. Attachment and Loss (vol. 2); (International psycho-analytical library no.95). London: Hogarth Press. It is because of this reason that it becomes extremely difficult to re-establish relationship between child and parents once it is disrupted. For this reason it is best to avoid such disruptions. A child's relationship with its parents has significant influence on the nature of social, psychological and emotional development of the child.Lamb, M. E., Hwang, C. P., Ketterlinus, R. D., & Fracasso, M. P. (1999). Parent-child relationships: Development in the context of the family. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (4th ed., pp. 411-450). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Empirical research also shows that disruption in relationship between child and its parents has adverse effects on a child's development. Those children who are hindered from having stable and regular interaction and meaningful relationship with either of the parent are at a higher potential of psychological risk. Thus children are more likely and able to attain their psychological potential when they are able to have healthy and regular relationship with both their parents. The ideal situation of relationship between children and parents is one in which there is everyday interaction between the child and its parents. This includes interaction in various family and social contexts like play, basic care, limit setting, putting to bed etc. Everyday activities promotes and maintains the development of trust and helps to strengthen and deepen parent–child relationships.

Divorce and separation form non-custodial parent

In terms of divorce and separation adverse effects have been noted due to severed father-child relationship.Lamb, M. E. (2002b). Noncustodial fathers and their children. In C. S. TamisLeMonda & N. Cabrera (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 169–184). Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum Therefore, in terms of separation due to divorce it is important to maintain regular interaction between child and both parents. It is therefore unfortunate that in contemporary practice relationship is not fostered between the child and the non custodial parent in divorce proceedings.Maccoby, E. E., and R. H. Mnookin. 1992. Dividing the Child: Social and Legal Dilemmas of Custody. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Peters H. E. (1997) Child custody and monetary transfers in divorce negotiations: Reduced form and simulation results. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York So when it is beneficial, children face potential risk due to removal from or disappearance of their non custodial fathers. This risk is added on with the other baggage of problems that occurs due to divorce including financial burden and less social support. For children separation from parents is stressful and painful.

Long-term impact of separation of child from its parents

The NICHD Study of Early Child Care was designed to assess the long-term outcomes of non parental care giving. Non Parental care giving involved both relatives (kinship care) and non relatives (

Day care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

). The NICHD study was based on Uri Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory (1979).Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Analysis of the effects of family and child care revealed that the characteristics of the family and the nature and quality of the mothers relationship with the child was a significantly better predictor of children's outcome.Fitzgerald, H., Mann, T., Cabrera, N., & Wong, M. (2003). Diversity in caregiving contexts. In R. Lerner, A. Easterbrooks, & J. Mistry (Eds.), Handbook of psychology, Vol 6: Developmental psychology (pp. 135-167). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. Prolonged separations from parents have profound disruptive influence on children's development. Such prolonged separations include separations due to death, institutionalization which entails sending a child to live in an institution or setting without parents, divorce and desertion of the child by parent and hospitalization or prolonged absence due to illness. Prolonged exposure to poor institutional care could lead todespair, apathy, and deficits in social responsiveness. According to Rutter (1979),Rutter, M (1979)

Maternal Deprivation Maternal deprivation is a scientific term summarising the early work of psychiatry, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother (or primary caregiver). Although the effect of ...

, 1972-1978: New Findings, new concepts, new approaches, Child Development, 50, 283-305 it is the failure to develop secure attachment with parents that leads to problems in social responsiveness.

Institutionalization In sociology, institutionalisation (or institutionalization) is the process of embedding some conception (for example a belief, norm, social role, particular value or mode of behavior) within an organization, social system, or society as a w ...

is extreme form of separation of the child from its parents. In their study of children in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), Smyke et al. (2010) found that children who remained institutionalized had higher levels of insecure-other attachment than children in a foster care condition. Children placed in foster care exhibited higher levels of secure-attachment. Additionally, Smyke et al. (2010) found that children who were placed into the foster care condition prior to 24 months of age were more likely to display secure attachment at the 42-month follow-up

Emotional abuse

Children also experience significant harm due to neglect, and emotional

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

can manifest through rejection, intimidation, or isolation of the child.Deegener, Günther (2002) 'Child Abuse', in International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences (eds) Smelser, N.J.; & Baltes, P.B. Oxford, England : Elsevier, Vol. 3 pp 1672- 1676

Sleeper effect

With the view that children develop through

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

by building on prior periods and that some effects of early experiences during child rearing might manifest later on in what is called as "Sleeper effect". It may be seen that effects of child rearing may be seen even later.Vandell, D. L., Belsky, J., Burchinal, M., Steinberg, L., Vandergrift, N., & NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2010). Do effects of early child care extend to age 15 years? Child Development, 81, 737–756.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Developmental psychology Family Human development Childhood Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement