More than two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated GulfCoast communities in Louisiana and Mississippi, an estimated 65,000 children remain displaced and at risk of long-term health, education and social problems, according to a new study published on Friday.
Although many displaced children have returned to their home communities and home states, their lives and their development are still being marred by inadequate housing, unsafe communities and lack of access to medical and mental health care.
The estimated 11,000 children living in FEMA trailer parks are considered among the most at-risk.
Nicole Riley said her daughter Isis had shown signs of severe trauma in the course of the family moving five times over a short period following their evacuation from New Orleans. They currently reside in a FEMA trailer park in Baker, Louisiana.
“When we got out here to the park, she was out of control, out of hand. She was not like that before the storm,” Ms Riley told the New York Times.
Isis no longer has uncontrollable temper tantrums, but still experiences severe mood swings and persistent skin rashes. Not yet four years of age, Isis’ much-disrupted childhood development is set to suffer fresh upheaval when the trailer park closes in the spring and the family is forced to find new accommodation.
Such a high level of disruption places children at risk of several long-term adverse outcomes including reduced academic achievement, poor physical health and problems associated with depression, anxiety or behavior disorders.
“This may be the most severe acute crisis affecting American children since the 1950s,” said Dr Irwin Redlener, president of the Children’s Health Fund and director of NationalCenter for Disaster Preparedness.
“It’s been two and a half years since the hurricanes devastated the Gulf Coast region, and the level of uncertainty among tens of thousands of families who still do not have adequate permanent housing has manifested itself in the children, with a distressing rise of mental health and medical issues, as well as a drop in academic performance that can have painful and permanent consequences. In fact, these families would be officially recognized as Internally Displaced Persons by international humanitarian organizations.”
Limited support services in Louisiana and Mississippi continue to complicate the treatment of children who remain at higher risk of serious medical, mental and educational problems.
Dears, lyrics from an old song come to mind:
The young have problems, many problems
We need an understanding heart
Why don't they help us, try and help us
Before this clay and granite planet falls apart
It is not simply the children who are still displaced, it is the children who have returned to the city of pity, the city of New Orleans. Now is the time to create a new Nouveau Orleans, a time to create a future for these young generations, a time to unite in this effort. Crime soars, businesses leave, people leave, people remain in doubt and in fear, and poverty continues to escalate. How long will it take for some leadership to take place. In January there will be a new governor but will it make a change? In 2008 there will be national elections but will it make a change? For decades we have seen changes in leadership in all levels and there really has been no change? Why because the citizens have not acted in the best interests of all but only in what they see as their personal self preservation. What will it take to see change in this town of pity filled with people without pity? What will it take?
Written by RhettsWife
on 12/8/2007
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