Social Work Dean Janet Shapiro on Psychological Impact on Children of Being Detained at Border Patrol Stations

Janet Shapiro, Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, was quoted in an article for Business Insider about the possible long-term psychological impact on children who are being housed in Texas Border Patrol stations. The facilities were originally intended to detain adults for short periods of time but are now being used to house children for as long as two to three weeks.

From the article:

Even a simple game can distract them for long enough to allow them to calm down, according to Janet Shapiro, the Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College. But when children are deprived of those opportunities, their stress-response systems stay activated.

"The physical impact of a stress-response system that's constantly activated can become very profound, and that's when people talk about things like stress hormones and the impact of stress hormones on inflammation in the body and on physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing," Shapiro told Insider.

"Having nothing to do is very anxiety-provoking for a distressed child because there's nowhere to discharge any of what they're feeling."

Read the full article on the Business Insider website.

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research