by Christina Pingert, Esq.
THE CHILDREN’S CORNER Is it Trauma and What Do We Do About It?
A little over a year ago, I experienced a
very traumatic event, when my home was broken into while I was sleeping. I was to- tally amazed at the effect that it had on me. I found myself unable to concentrate, hav- ing trouble sleeping, and being very ner- vous. Although these symptoms did not last long, it caused me to think more about trauma and its effect on children. This past summer I attended the 15th ABA Nation- al Conference on Children & the Law: Law- yers as Partners for Family Well–Being and had the opportunity to attend several workshops on trauma. The following infor- mation was provided in a workshop enti- tled “Emerging Tools for Trauma–Informed Courts: Promoting Child Safety, Perma- nence and Well Being.”1 The purpose of child welfare intervention
is to protect children, provide permanence, and promote child well-being. Traditional- ly the response of the child welfare system and the court has been to remove the child from the home and provide basic needs in a foster home. Federal ASFA regulations require states to ensure that “Children re- ceive adequate services to meet their phys- ical and mental health needs.”2 As children develop, 90% of brain growth occurs in the first three years of life. The hu- man brain builds itself based on the expe- riences it has, making structural changes in response to experiences. The parent-child relationship promotes healthy develop- ment if it is responsive, nurturing, and exists in a stable environment with a stable care- giver. There is developmental risk if there is neglect of the child’s physical and emotion- al needs, harsh or inconsistent punishment and/or frequent changes in caregivers or routines. The effects of trauma, stress, and
maltreatment include mental and physical health problems, learning difficulties, be- havior problems, substance abuse issues, and problems developing and maintaining healthy relationships. Trauma is the single greatest preventable
cause of chronic mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, HIV high risk behavior, and behaviors that lead to heart disease, can- cer, stroke, diabetes and suicide. Trauma has many different meanings. Trauma is an exceptional experience in which powerful and dangerous stimuli threaten the child’s life, safety or wellbeing and overwhelm the child’s capacity to regulate emotions.3
Trauma refers to an overwhelming
event that renders a child helpless or powerless, thereby creating a threat of harm to the child coupled with in- ternalization of that experience, which continues to impact the child’s per- ception of self, other, his or her devel- opment and the world. Trauma in this sense generally refers to being a victim of violence, witnessing violence or ex- periencing stressful life events.4
There are various types of trauma. Acute trauma refers to a single traumatic event that is limited in time. Chronic trauma is a series or pattern of traumatic events occur- ring with no protection, no support, and no opportunity to heal. Complex trauma re- fers to the problem of children’s exposure to multiple or prolonged traumatic events and the impact of this exposure on their development. When referring to complex trauma, mental health professionals typi- cally mean that a child has been exposed to multiple potentially traumatic events, ei-
ther simultaneously or sequentially.5 Another term to be aware of is “early childhood trauma,” which typically refers to trauma experienced by a child age 0–6 years. Exposure to traumatic experiences in early childhood can be particularly harm- ful because it is during this critical time that children are forming the basic attachments in their primary caregivers and other signif- icant adults who will provide them with a path to healthy growth as well as relational and emotional adjustment.6 The effect of trauma on a child depends on whether it is acute or chronic, the de- velopmental phase of the child, the prox- imity to the traumatic event, the familiarity with the victim and the perpetrator, avail- able family and community support, and the response to trauma by family, school, and community.
Each child experiences potentially trau- matic events differently. Abuse or neglect that will traumatize one child, leaving him or her severely impacted, may not be trau- ma-inducing to another. The impact of trauma on the individual child depends on a variety of factors, such as the child’s temperament, the accumulated number and type of experienced traumatic events, the child’s support network of family and friends, and the child’s access to profes- sional assistance to cope with the trauma. Generally the overall impact of trauma is divided into three categories: physical im- pacts, neurodevelopmental impacts and psychosocial impacts. Virtually every child who is removed from
his or her family or legal guardian and then placed into the foster care system has ex- perienced some level of trauma within the home. Moreover, although necessary to protect the child in some instances, remov- ing a child from the home she has known, even a home that is violent and threatens the child’s wellbeing, may itself be traumat- ic experience for the child.
Domestic violence is traumatic for chil-
dren. It is estimated that between 3.3 mil- lion to 10 million children in the U.S. wit- ness domestic violence annually. Very young children are more likely to be ex- posed to domestic violence than older chil- dren. Children who witness domestic vio- lence are at a greater risk for child abuse and neglect.
Childhood trauma changes biochemi- cal functions. The exposure to threaten- ing events results in increased stress hor-
28 THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2014
www.vtbar.org
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