As a nation we will need, in the period ahead, to reflect not only on the natural disaster of the hurricane but the human disaster brought on by insufficient attention to aging levees and infrastructure, inadequate emergency preparations and the enduring inequities of class and race which visited sorrow on those least able to find the resources to respond. There is much for all of us to do as we ponder the meaning of Katrina and the ways in which we came to see ourselves as a nation.
Perhaps it is these weighty and lingering questions that often divert our attention away from the collateral damage to our children in the circumstances of national trauma. Children in the path of Katrina of course suffered the most severe consequences of the disaster. Untold numbers of children lost their lives, others endured the loss of family members, some experienced the frightening separation from their families and tens of thousands still experience the unsettling experience of disruption from home, school, pets, child care centers, familiar friends and activities. To children the pain and loss of these months has been aggravated by their own feelings of powerlessness.
Now, two months after the calamity of Katrina, all the children who were found alone in shelters have been reunited with at least one family member. According to the Washington Post on Oct. 27, 1500 families remain “fractured” by placement at distant shelters and temporary housing and unaccounted for family members. Most sobering, 1549 children still remain missing.
As grim as these statistics are, they don’t begin to fully describe the impact of this and other disasters to the spiritual and emotional well-being of our children. Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome (or Disorder), PTSD, has been recognized since the 1980s as a cluster of symptoms in adults. Only in the late 1990s was the term applied to children manifesting the same symptoms. Even when response to trauma does not reach the threshold of such a diagnostic category, a child might be grieving and require an extra measure of support from parents, teachers, youth workers and pastors.
Research has repeatedly illustrated that our children are highly attuned to the emotional context around them. Even when the child is not clear on the explicit nature of the trauma, its causes or consequence, there’s evidence that children recognize and even internalize the stress of the adults around them. Sometimes the very fact that people are avoiding discussing the topic with children contributes further to their anxiety. In the absence of discussion children often envision their own situation as being more tenuous than it actually might be. For example, children living, say, in the Midwest, might not fully appreciate that they need not fear a hurricane will do to their community what happened in New Orleans. If the adults around them are not discussing the matter their fear and even depression might deepen.
Pastors, Christian educators, youth workers and others have a real opportunity to offer pastoral care to our children. A typical 10-year-old today has experienced a lifetime that includes the traumas of 9/11, heightened security alerts, the tsunami and now Katrina. The cumulative and residual consequence of being within earshot of such a series of traumatic events ought not be underestimated. Mental health professionals note that children’s emotional trauma is influenced appreciably by three factors: severity of the event, proximity to the event and the opportunity to respond to the event. While we cannot do much to influence the first two factors, we have enormous resources to meet the needs of the third factor. Pastors and others can meet with parents to talk about how and when to discuss these events with children. Children’s sermons can contain clear factual information (e.g. we live far from the ocean where the tsunami is). Congregations can offer a locus for mental health care providers to offer public events that help parents and teachers assist children at risk. Churches and other community agencies might wish to avail themselves of resources like the curriculum “Silver Linings” which can be reviewed and ordered at Rainbows. Provided by a non-profit grief counseling organization, the curriculum is age graded for ages 5-8, 9-13 and adolescents. Each curriculum is $35.00.
Children suffering from PTSD often regress in social skills and toilet training. School-age children might become disruptive and socially inappropriate. Children might cling to parents, pets or possessions or simply project a sense of sadness. Sleep disruptions and dietary disruptions likewise might signal distress. In this decade in which we’ve committed ourselves to ministry with and for children, we must be vigilant on their behalf lest they be found weeping in the playtime of others. |
