07/20/2018
A few weeks back, the separation of immigrant children from their parents was much in the news, and there was a heated debate among my couples therapy colleagues about if this was an issue we should take a stand on. I'm proud to report, belatedly, that the vast majority argued this was not a political issue, it was a human issue that goes right to the heart of the work we do, creating security in relationships, while separating children from parents creates trauma and insecurity. I want to share the statement the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy put out very quickly back in June. The issue is still very much of concern and I hope we all will keep pressuring our government to stop this abusive policy:
Below is the ICEEFT position in English and Spanish
ICEEFT Position on the US government practice of separating migrant and asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border
June 2018
The International Centre for Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) is an international professional organization of mental health professionals with thousands of therapists in the US and across the globe providing clinical services to adults, children, couples and families.
It is with shock and outrage that the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy takes a stand against the current policy of the U.S. government to separate children from their families at its southern border. The research which informs our practice of family and couple therapy makes clear in no uncertain terms that prolonged separation of children from their parents has traumatic repercussions, both short and long term, making this an unconscionable act of cruelty. Depending on the age, such separations are known to have a deleterious impact on the emotional, physical and social development of the child creating a lifetime of impairment, not to mention the devastating heartbreak for the parents. Neither parents nor children know when or whether they will be reunited with one another, an uncertainty which has profound psychological repercussions. Compounding the horror is the fact that, according to recent reports, the caretakers in charge are forbidden from physically comforting these children in distress.
Our expertise and clinical experience inform our condemnation of this inhumane policy on the part of the Trump administration. There is no law that justifies such treatment of children and families
Posición oficial de San Francisco Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (SFCEFT) y de ICEEFT sobre la práctica del gobierno de EEUU de separar a las familias migrantes y las que buscan asilo en la frontera de EEUU-México
Junio de 2018
El Instituto de Terapia Foclaizada en las Emociones de San Francisco (SFCEFT) y el Centro Internacional de Excelencia en la Terapia Emocionalmente Focalizada (ICEEFT) son organizaciones internacionales de profesionales de salud mental con miles de terapeutas en los Estados Unidos Y en todo el mundo que brindan servicios clínicos a adultos, niños, parejas y familias.
Es con conmoción e indignación que SFCEFT y ICEEFT toman una posición en contra de la política actual del gobierno de los EEUU de separar a los niños de sus familias en su frontera sur. La investigación que informa nuestra práctica de terapia familiar y de pareja deja en claro en términos inequívocos que la separación prolongada entre hijos y sus padres tiene repercusiones traumáticas, tanto a corto como a largo plazo, convirtiéndolo en un acto de crueldad desmesurado. Dependiendo de la edad, se sabe que tales separaciones tienen un impacto nocivo sobre el desarrollo emocional, físico y social del niño, creando una vida de deterioro, sin mencionar el devastador dolor de corazón de los padres. Ni los padres ni los hijos saben cuándo se reunirán o si se reunirán entre ellos, una incertidumbre que tiene profundas repercusiones psicológicas. Para agravar el horror está el hecho de que, según informes recientes, a los cuidadores a cargo se les prohíbe consolar físicamente a estos niños en peligro.
Nuestra experiencia y experiencia clínica son la base de nuestra condena de esta política inhumana por parte de la administración Trump. No existe una ley que justifique este tratamiento de niños y familias.
As Dr. Johnson said:
“We must recognize that we are more than “homo sapiens’. We are ‘homo vinculum’ -the one who bonds with others. And these bonds are what will save us. They always have.”
