Trump administration disaster request abandons the most vulnerable: young children

In Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Gulf States, our government’s response to recent hurricanes is failing—and young children, our most vulnerable citizens, are paying the price.

On Friday, the Trump Administration submitted a request for supplemental disaster relief that does not include any funding for Head Start, Early Head Start, or the Social Services Block Grant, which is flexible funding that can be used to assist vulnerable populations, such as children. The failure to request this funding is appalling, as is the Trump Administration’s insistence on offsets — disaster relief should not be offset by cutting other spending, period.

We have all seen the physical devastation these storms have caused. But there is unseen damage as well—the impact these disasters have on infant and early childhood brain development and mental health. Hurricanes and other disasters are traumatic experiences, and the research is unequivocal about long term impact of trauma on early brain development. Infants, toddlers, and young children are very much aware of their environments, and are particularly susceptible to stresses and fears that face the adults around them, as well as the dangers of disasters themselves.

At a congressional briefing held in Washington, we heard from people on the ground who are working to restore care for infants and young children in these disaster areas. What we heard was appalling. People are reusing diapers because there are not enough supplies. Child care centers in the Florida Keys do not have enough people to watch young children—so toddlers have wandered out of the building and into the street. Schools and child care centers in Puerto Rico remain unusable because of storm damage or lack of power and water.

The evidence from neuroscientists, pediatricians, and even economists is clear: if we do not support children in the first years of life, their brain development can suffer, leading to lifelong consequences. When children are under chronic stress, as they are in the aftermath of these catastrophes, the part of their brain that regulates responses to stress is altered—with severe consequences for attention, memory, and critical thinking.

Children in the areas affected by these storms need to return to their daily routines as quickly as possible to minimize trauma, and to ensure that this critical point in their brain development is not further disrupted.

We owe it to our children to give them the best possible start in life. A generation depends on it. In the short term, we must provide food, shelter, and sanitation to support young children, and minimize parent-child separation. And in the long term, we have to repair and rebuild affordable housing, as well as establish comfort and stability by reopening Head Start centers. We need to train Head Start teachers and mental health counselors on trauma response. We need to engage parents and help them deal with their own stress and trauma in order to provide more nurturing, stimulating care for their children.

Early Childhood programs like Early Head Start are an inflection point where we can help infants and toddlers get the mental health support they need—they provide important services to grant children a sense of normalcy, and help children get back on their feet. However, many of these centers were damaged or destroyed during the storms.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in Puerto Rico, 95 percent of Head Start centers were damaged. Sixty nine percent of Head Start centers are still closed and six additional centers are confirmed to have been completely destroyed. These centers serve 22,718 infants and toddlers — we need to rebuild as soon as possible.

On the mainland, HHS) estimates that 30 centers in Florida and Georgia still need repairs for minor damage and 148 centers need major damage repair. In Texas 75 centers still need repairs for minor damage and 20 will need major damage repair. We have a massive task ahead of us—and Congress and the Trump Administration cannot drag their feet while children suffer.

We are reminded of Michael Ignatieff’s powerful response to the government’s failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina. He wrote: “A contract of citizenship defines the duties of care that public officials owe to the people of a democratic society… it is basic terms of protection: helping citizens protect their families and possessions from forces beyond their control.”

This brings us to today — will we honor our contract with our citizens? Will our government fulfill its moral obligation to its people, especially those who are helpless in the face of this catastrophe? History has its eyes on us. We must act.