Intervention for young children with a history of deprivation: International perspectives on an ongoing problem

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Our symposium will address a long standing but ever emergent issue worldwide regarding the harmful consequences of child abandonment and early psychosocial deprivation. Talks will range from a review of the recent consequences of the worldwide COVID pandemic on orphaned children to a description of a novel intervention set up to address the structural contexts of infant institutionalization in Latin America and a presentation of the most recent findings from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) demonstrating how family-based foster care early in development can ameliorate the long-term impact of institutional deprivation. We have learned much about the extent to which early-life deprivation affects the mental health of children and adolescents. This body of evidence comes predominantly from studies of children raised in institutional care. Not surprisingly, inadequate environmental input (e.g., deprivation) during sensitive periods of brain development can have severe and, in some cases, lasting effects on multiple domains of functioning. Psychosocial deprivation in institutional care is similar to experiences of severe neglect, the most common form of child maltreatment, in the United States. Thus, the issues covered in the talks and by the discussant are translational, international, and critical for the welfare of young children. Three talks are proposed: one on the effects of the COVID pandemic on child abandonment, one on a new parent-attachment centered intervention in Sao Paulo Brazil, a third on recent findings from the BEIP. Our discussant will address the translation of international research on child welfare to child protection in the United States.

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Chair

• Nathan A Fox, University of Maryland - College Park

Discussant

• Brenda Jones Harden, Columbia University

Individual Presentations

• The hidden toll of the Covid-19 pandemic: 10 million children orphaned by the pandemic - Presenting Author: Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School

• A multi-level analysis of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Causal effects on recovery from deprivation - Presenting Author: Kathryn L. Humphreys, Vanderbilt University; Lucy Sobey King, Stanford University; Katherine Leigh Guyon-Harris, University of Pittsburgh; Emilio Alejandro Valadez, University of Maryland - College Park; Anca Radulescu, Tanner Foundation; Nathan A Fox, University of Maryland - College Park; Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School; Charles H Zeanah, Tulane University

• Early Institutionalization Intervention Impact Project: Cultural factors when designing and implementing research on institutional care - Presenting Author: Charles H Zeanah, Tulane University; Melissa MIddleton, Tulane University; George M Tarabulsy, University Laval; Chantal Cyr, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM); Edson Amaro, Pensi Institute; Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School; Nathan A Fox, University of Maryland - College Park