2. Impact on babies & young children of
Parental Absence & Return,
Re-location & Disability
3. Parental absence &
return
Re-location
Disability, physical
and/or mental health
Potential for one or both
parents to experience –
Loneliness
Social isolation
Fear & uncertainty
Insecurity
Loss & adjustment
Anger & resentment
Additional pressure
Of life becoming a little
smaller...
All of which impact on
parenting skills & family life
4. Much research pointing to risk factors & adverse impacts of
service life on children
Links established between –
Repeated re-location & risk of suicide in young people
Parental depression & mental health problems in children
Demands of caring for a disabled person & mental health
problems of carers, leading to elevated risk of mental health
problems in children...
Not difficult to find evidence base for risk
5. “We should never lose sight of the fact that our
genetic inheritance is all about survival, and that’s
just as important for new born babies as it is for the
adult hunter.”
(Robert Winston – Human Instinct, 2002)
Our starting point, at birth, is one of survival and
resilience.
6. There are 3 crucial elements for adult happiness –
1. Optimism
2. High self esteem
3. Control over one’s life
For infants, self esteem and control are not an issue
What infants need, and can be taught, is optimism.
The determining factor is happiness and laughter
7. 1. Happiness
2. Confidence
3. Success
Securing these characteristics should be a primary goal
Between 1 & 2 years of age, personality begins to emerge
An optimistic or a pessimistic personality
The child who is happy, laughs a lot, is excited by the world, v
the child who is fearful, timid, prone to crying, anxious
8.
9. Babies can imitate expressions not long after birth – key to the
bonding process
At 6 months, babies grasp the significance of facial recognition
The process of attachment follows soon after
Attachments are vital to a baby’s survival
Adults can recognize hundreds of faces & recognize emotions
We can tell if a baby is happy, sad, frightened or hungry
Research has shown that the reverse is true
Relatively young babies can read our emotional expressions almost
as well as adults can
If a mother is scared, or anxious, or angry, a baby takes notice
Babies tune into the tone of voice as an indicator of mood
10. Baby to Adult Communication
Infants communicate with other people by a multi-channel system of
senses and expressions – linking the baby’s brain activities to those of the
adult, expressed in touches, vocalisation, face expressions and gestures
11. Parental low mood state over a protracted period can impact
on a baby’s brain activity & development
Relationships & experiences are key to brain development
Brain activity is stimulated by touch, language, sounds,
gesture, facial expressions & physical contact
Speech and language, emotional & social development &
attachment depend on that early parent-child interaction
Where that interaction & connection is impoverished, the
foundation for developmental difficulties is formed
12. 1 in 10 first time mothers suffer from post-natal depression
Difficulties arise when depressed mothers are unable to be
sensitive to their babies’ emotional needs
High levels of stress hormone make mothers short-tempered,
responding more emotionally when a baby cries
Presence of a supportive partner a factor in recovery
The effects on children are not always extreme
Easy, resilient babies come out of it best
Difficult, needy babies are more at risk and boys are
particularly vulnerable
13. Girls of depressed mothers can be more withdrawn &
unhappy at 5 years of age
Boys of 5 years could also suffer intellectually & may become
hyperactive
No real research on why this gender difference occurs, but
boys are generally less mature at birth
Studies in brain development show that neglect affects parts
of the brain responsible for mood and judgement
This may explain why children of depressed parents are
known to have higher propensity to depression in later life
14. The emotional challenge of deployment & pre-deployment
complex & demanding
For parents, the challenges made more complex by the needs
of dependent young children
“A guide for the families of deployed regular Army Personnel”
(March 2011)
Guidance provides support and information to help prepare
for what to expect at a practical & psychological level
Tips for dealing with stress in children & other concerns
The storybook project for young children
16. Risk Factors Resilience
First time mothers
Partners on first
deployment
Difficult babies
Babies under 2 years
Boys
Socially isolated mothers
Unexpected or prolonged
stress
Support ‘out there’
Insecure family context
Experienced mothers
Partners on second or
subsequent deployments
Strong support networks
Effective community
support
Easy babies
Girls
Positive relationships
Anticipated challenges
Support at point of need
Secure family context
17. Inattentive, persistent, non-attuned parenting
Relationship tensions & stresses
Increase in working hours & stress factors
Shifting roles & responsibilities
Dominant needs set the tone & mood for family life
Emotional absence, preceding actual physical absence
Taboo subjects, niggling issues, fractured relationships
Irregularity of time at home, absence from family life
Changing or reduced connections within the community
18. Anticipated stress can be a positive force enabling a child to
develop coping strategies for later in life
The ability of parents to buffer stresses crucial to impact –
Support groups
Secure relationships (‘Strong Families. Strong Forces’)
Friendships
Information & knowledge
On-going communications with the absent parent
Targeted support
Community groups and positive integration projects
19. Complex psychological issues impact upon a parent’s ability to
recognize the need for help & support
Difficulties experienced by mothers in prioritising own needs
Concepts of –
Failure
Inadequacy
Pride & loyalty
A barrier to intervention
Integration issues and tensions (military & civilian) can hinder
access to support
Stigma attached to visiting professionals (welfare)
20. Community Covenants complement at local level the work of
the Armed Forces Covenant, June 2011 launch
A voluntary pledge of mutual support between a civilian
community & its local armed forces community
Ideal v current reality
Much work to integrate communities with fixed identities
The brown porch, white porch syndrome – all those with
white porches are civilian owned, all those...
Children grow up learning trust, co-operation, a sense of
belonging, or grow up with tension, suspicion & mistrust
21. The children of parents on active military duty are vulnerable
to long term emotional strain
US Study by Child Trends, Home Front Alert, 25 July 2013
Author David Murphey,
‘Home Front Alert: The Risks Facing Young Children in
Military Families’
This group of children are facing emotional obstacles that
could develop into more serious long term issues.
As many as half a million American children face the elevated
risk for emotional problems, particularly anxiety issues.
22. “We’re concerned that children exposed to stressful events,
particularly traumatic stressful events, will have difficulty
learning to cope with emotions, to do well socially and
emotionally, and even have problems with their physical
health.”
“As these children grow up, there will be at least a subset of
them that will face very substantial problems.”
David Murphey, Home Front Alert, July 2013
23. “It could be the accumulation of those stresses as
well as a single overwhelming stress that can lead to
really lasting changes in the developing brain, that
can have negative implications for development
further along the line.”
A single overwhelming stress or multiple stresses
that accumulate...
24. Infantile amnesia – the absence of long-term memory events
from childhood
Young children can remember events in the short term, but
these memories do not persist
New research suggests early childhood events are forgotten
because of the high level of neuron production during the
first years of life
The formation of new brain cells increases the capacity for
learning but also clears the mind of old memories
Research by The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto & University of
Toronto – Dr Paul Frankland & Dr Sheena Josselyn
25.
26. Links shown in research between reduced neuron growth and
increased memory recall
The opposite also true – a decreased ability to remember
when neuro-genesis is increased (as during infancy)
“Before the ages of four or five, we have a highly dynamic
hippocampus which can’t stably store information.
As new neurons are generated, memory may be
compromised by that process.”
Dr Frankland, HfSC, Toronto, September 2013
27. Babies’ brains grow & develop as they interact with their
environment & form relationships
Babies whose needs are not met, or are met with neglect,
learn different lessons
Neural pathways that develop under negative conditions
prepare children to cope in that negative environment
The ability of babies to respond to nurturing and kindness
may be impaired
Brief periods of moderate, predictable stress are not
problematic – they can prepare a child to cope with the
world.
28. Children learn to deal with moderate stress in the context of
positive relationships with reliable care givers
Great amounts of stress may also be tolerable if a child has a
reliable adult who can help buffer the child
But prolonged, severe or unpredictable stress, including
neglect or abuse, during a child’s early years, is problematic
The brain’s development can be altered by this toxic stress
resulting in impacts on a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional
and social growth
29. Brain development of 3 Year Old Children
Effects of ‘global’ neglect on brain development – severe sensory-
deprivation neglect (from research into brain development of children from
Romanian Orphanages in early 1990s)
30. Brain imaging technologies and studies of human
development in optimal and deprived conditions, show
impact of neglect or prolonged stress on brain development
Major effects include –
Persistent fear response – chronic stress or repeated trauma
can result in biological reactions, including a persistent fear
state
Neural pathways involved in the fear response can create
permanent memories that shape the child’s perception of,
and response to, the environment
31. Hyper-arousal – when children are exposed to chronic,
persistent stress, their brains sensitive pathways for the fear
response and create memories that automatically trigger the
response without conscious thought – this is hyper-arousal
Dissociation – a coping mechanism whereby children
mentally & emotionally remove themselves from a traumatic
experience – (zoning out)
In adults a capacity to zone out may be a safeguard against
stressful circumstances
In children, the process is less likely to be engaged at a
conscious level
32. Disrupted attachment process – the foundation of much of
childhood development is attachment – the emotional
relationships formed with other people.
An infant’s early attachments form the basis for future
emotional relationships. It also provides the basis for other
learning.
If the attachment process is disrupted, the child’s brain will be
wired to meeting day to day needs for survival, rather than
building the foundation for future growth
Slides 14 – 19 with thanks to the Child Welfare Information Gateway
33. Away from severe effects of prolonged stress, negative impact
may occur at a lower level of severity
Changes in infant behaviour
Increased non compliance
Disturbance in sleep patterns
Changes in eating habits
Increase in anxiety levels
Heightened sensitivity
Nightmares and sleep terrors
Increased anger
Frequent mood changes
34. Reports on Impact of Deployment – 4 negative themes
1. Behaviour
2. Loss
3. Emotion &
4. Military life impact
“Many of the parents reported changes in their child’s
behaviour across the deployment process. These were
changes that they attributed solely to their child’s experience
of deployment....”
Katy Farrell-Wright, May 2011, Cardiff University
35. Emergence of 4 positive theme, some of which were in direct
opposition to the negative themes –
Behaviour
Character
Enhanced relationships
Military life impact
“There were a number of areas in which participants described the
development of positive personality attributes in their child...”
“It brought us all so much closer, having to go through something
like that; we were a much stronger family unit afterwards.”
36. Popular romantic film images of returning service men &
women reunited with beaming families
Illusion & reality somewhat different
‘There’s a stranger in the house’
The re-emergence of the father
‘You wait till your Dad gets home!’
Behaviour management – the threat of the absent parent
Emotional expectations may not meet real life experiences
Yet the illusion persists...
37. Aware that Joy has researched extensively the impact of
mobility and deployment on service children
Mobility Project -2009, Halton School
Cycles of disengagement and re-engagement before and after
school moves
Periods of settled and unsettled behaviours in babies and
young children
Emotional and physical responses to environmental factors
The resilience of children and their parents a factor in
reducing negative impact of mobility
38. “Moving between different postings and the potential for
deployment are facts of military life. These not only impact on
the Service person, but also on the family. Moving on a
regular basis, ‘mobility’, may have a deleterious impact on the
family and was one of the most significant concerns raised by
military families..”
Unsung Heroes, 2012.
“For mobile families, every time they move they enter a
lottery; whether they get a choice of school or whether they
get children into a good or failing school.. “
Written Evidence from Army Families Federation, 8th Feb 2013
39. Anecdotal evidence (community centre mothers) to indicate the
mostly negative impact of mobility on children
New school entry generating a host of negative experiences &
childhood memories
Comment that as service children, they ‘hated every minute of
being stood before the whole school’ & introduced to peers
Parents see their own children going through the same processes,
with same fears they experienced
What are the practices schools employ to integrate new children?
How is intention matched by outcome?
How are child sensitivities & needs protected?
40. Potential for a family to share the same experiences
Anticipation of stresses, in a familiar context, can offset
anxieties
The ability to re-create home environment & routines
The mood & attitude of parents a significant determining
factor in how positively young children respond to change
Infants, with an emerging optimistic personality, more likely
to gain from the experience
Young children, with an emerging sense of self & identity &
pessimistic personality, less likely to fare well from experience
41. Defence Recovery Capability
Help for Heroes runs four Recovery Centres – Colchester,
Catterick, Tidworth & Plymouth
Designed to inspire, enable and support wounded, sick or
injured service personnel and their families
The centres provide a launch-pad-to-life support service
See the needs of the individual being grouped into five key
areas – medical, mind, body, spirit and family – all needing to
be in balance to ensure a fulfilled and happy life
(Co-Founders’ Letter, Annual Report, H4H, 2012)
43. “We all need to remember that those
wounded in the last 10 years will still need
help in 20, 30, 40 years time and beyond...”
Bryn Parry, Chief Executive’s Report, 2012
A need to remember that the partners and children,
of those wounded in the last 10 years, will still need
help...
44. The impact of physical and/or mental disability profound &
long term if not life-long
Sense of loss, adjustment and grief common
Changing roles in relationships & families can be problematic
The shift from independence to dependence, and shift back
again to independence, fraught with difficulty
A toll taken on service families, on partners & children that
can break up families & impact significantly on relationships
The needs of babies & young children may be secondary to
more demanding & diverse needs of injured service men
45. “The support injured service personnel receive from their
families has been shown to be integral to recovery.
As well as addressing the psychological needs of service
personnel recovering from physical injuries, the practical and
emotional impact on the families who care for them must
also be taken into consideration.”
Unsung Heroes: Developing a better understanding of the emotional
support needs of service families, March 2012
46. Publishing & publishing houses –
Who represents the needs of service children & families?
‘Not our thing’, ‘a niche market’ ‘not commercial enough’
Political lobbying -
SEND groups very successful with influence at senior level
Funding disparities between needs of service children &
communities & funding on SEND
What gains could be made with £30k per pupil per year?
What gains could be made with £250k per pupil per year?
Individual pupil ‘high-level’ support v whole community
support
