Recovered Children: Complicating Factors and Behavioral Health
When children are located/recovered after being abducted, an assessment of their physical and emotional well-being is key. The child should be medically cleared and when assessing the child for behavioral/mental health interventions, the following topics may be helpful to explore with the child when referring to behavioral/mental health services for the child:
- Age and developmental status of the child: If the child is pre-verbal, most counties have Infant Mental Health services available to children. Please contact your local County Behavioral Health team.
- Background of the Abduction: what happened when the child was abducted? Any violence associated with the abduction? Length of the abduction may also contribute to the child’s trauma.
- Allegations of Child Abuse and/or Neglect: if there are allegations of any type of child abuse or neglect by parties to any child, even to a child not abducted but in the family unit, please contact CPS immediately to report the abuse and/or neglect. Each county has an Emergency Response (ER) Hotline available to investigate abuse and neglect allegations.
- Realization of the Abduction: does the child recognize they were abducted or what happened when they were away? What was the child told about the other parent (i.e., brain-washing, altering the child’s identity/name, appearance). Some children may feel guilty the parent was apprehended.
- Memory of Parent: Does the child remember the left-behind parent? Where does the child want to live? What are their thoughts about the left-behind parent?
- Removed from Identifying Culture: was the child abducted to a different country or culture? Was the child able to speak the language where they were abducted to?
- Condition of home prior to abduction: Any CPS history? School absences? What was the relationship like between the parents? Domestic violence? Substance abuse?
