This week we were confronted with news of another inexplicable horror. In reporting by NBC News, subsequently confirmed by other outlets, we learned that the parents of 545 children separated from their families by the US government at the US-Mexico border under a 2017 pilot program cannot be found.
Pope Francis, one of the leading moral voices of our time, has said:
The most economically advanced societies are witnessing a growing trend towards extreme individualism which, combined with a utilitarian mentality and reinforced by the media, is producing a “globalization of indifference”. In this scenario, migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking have become emblems of exclusion. In addition to the hardships that their condition entails, they are often looked down upon and considered the source of all society’s ills. That attitude is an alarm bell warning of the moral decline we will face if we continue to give ground to the throw-away culture. In fact, if it continues, anyone who does not fall within the accepted norms of physical, mental and social well-being is at risk of marginalization and exclusion… Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel to the excluded.
The United States of America is one of these “economically advanced societies” in moral decline, as evidenced by how we treat these vulnerable young children and their parents.
Here’s why this is not only a problem but a horror:
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Children flourish in reciprocal, responsive relationships with loving adults. These relationships are the right of every child.
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Traumas like forced separation of children and parents derail healthy human development. The effects of these experiences may be with these children for the rest of their lives in the form of poor mental health outcomes, chronic disease, and cognitive impairment.
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They are children. Imagine how scared a child taken from their parent who now cannot be found must be. Now imagine it every day for three years.
We have an obligation– out of justice and our humanity– to value the children among us.
Regardless of their color or immigration status.
Regardless of the legal offenses of their parents.
Regardless of the languages they speak or do not speak.
To move forward into a humane future worth having, America must uphold without equivocation and with the firmness of genuine commitment the inalienable rights and inherent dignity of every single child and their family.
Joe Waters
Co-Founder + CEO
Capita
October 21, 2020