It’s interesting that several of the listserves I’m on right now are discussing how to “get the word out” or how hard it is to make others understand the plight of traumatized children and their families. Although the discussions have taken decidedly different turns on each list, there are several common pitfalls that keep the rest of the world from understanding what these children and families need.

Pitfall # 1: People Just Don’t Know What Trauma Can Do

I’ve said before that if I had a nickel for every time someone told me that babies are resilient or that my daughter was “too young” to remember any of the trauma in her early beginnings, I could fund one heckuva advocacy effort.

There are some things about trauma that the public gets. They get that tsunami and hurricane victims are traumatized. They get that the people who survived 911 are traumatized. They get that war veterans might come home with PTSD. But there is still much they don’t get about trauma.

They don’t get how lasting this impact can be on these victims. While on one level, most people seem to understand that natural disasters and extreme life-threatening situations can traumatize a person, the general public does not see, nor understand how deeply and profoundly trauma can impact lives, especially lives of the youngest and most vulnerable of our society…babies and children.

When asked to describe how trauma could affect a child, most people will not immediately link child abuse, or especially chronic neglect or repeated foster care moves with a child being traumatized. Some might correctly identify that a child who has witnessed violence would be traumatized (like the news reports of children seeing their parents being killed or the young people in war-riddled countries). But very few of the general public link adoptive and foster children to trauma.

And it’s even worse trying to get people to understand that neglecting an infant/young child during their crucial developmental stages is both traumatizing and can damage them in other ways – neurological, sensory, even physical.

Very many of the children awaiting adoption (either domestically or internationally) have had a heaping helping of trauma on their young lives. It’s one thing for the general public not to recognize or understand this, but even the people who are supposed to be child “professionals” don’t know. I’m talking about pediatricians, child development specialists, social workers, and even adoption professionals.

Now some would argue that adoption professionals “know” about trauma but refuse to acknowledge it. But I still think there’s a population of people who actively participate in adoptions and foster care around the world who have no clue what the effects of trauma are on young children. And what they don’t know hurts our kids every day!


Photo Credit