The family separation policy has separated at least 2,300 undocumented immigrant children from their parents and placed them in governmental care in shelters and foster homes across the United States. Early childhood clinicians and researchers at the University of Michigan and the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health have developed two resources to help those caring for recently separated immigrant children.
The first is a letter that presents the idea of SAFE Communication to assist alternative caregivers to help the children begin to make sense of what has happened to them and offers strategies to increase the children’s sense of safety and protection. The second is a children’s story – Cecilia and the Long Walk - to help children understand their recent experience, providing language to help organize internal confusion and terror. The story is presented as a coloring book, with version available in both English and Spanish. An audio recording of Cecilia and the Long Walk (Cecilia y la Larga Caminata) is also available on YouTube so that children can listen to the story being read in their native language.
See this announcement for more information and to access the resources.