Ripple Effect of a Placement Disruption

When a child is removed from their biological parents, the trauma of separation is profound. This initial shock, paired with the uncertainty of where they will go, can have lasting effects. However, when a placement disruption occurs—meaning the child is moved from one caregiver to another, whether from kinship care to a stranger's home or between foster homes—the trauma compounds, creating a ripple effect that touches every aspect of a child’s development. Alarmingly, each move can cause children to regress developmentally by up to six months in key areas such as social, emotional, academic, and behavioral growth.

In this blog post, we explore the impact of placement disruptions, shedding light on how each move sets a child back and creates deeper challenges as they try to cope with their constantly shifting environment.

Social Impact: The Strain on Relationships

Children who experience placement disruptions often struggle to form and maintain meaningful relationships. Trust is foundational to any healthy social bond, but frequent moves undermine a child’s ability to trust caregivers, peers, and even themselves. Each new home means new adults to rely on, new children to befriend, and new environments to adapt to.

In kinship care, children may feel a sense of connection and continuity, but when they are moved to a stranger's home, that sense of security is lost. As a result, children can regress socially, behaving like much younger children, avoiding interactions, or becoming clingy or anxious. The lack of stable, long-term relationships can lead to feelings of isolation, difficulty in socializing, and an increased risk of attachment disorders.

For every placement disruption, it’s not uncommon for children to lose up to six months of social development, creating further challenges in forming and maintaining healthy relationships.

Emotional Impact: The Weight of Compound Trauma

Emotional development is particularly vulnerable to placement disruptions. Each move brings a sense of loss and abandonment, compounding the original trauma of being separated from their biological parents. Children may internalize these moves, believing they are unworthy of love or stability.

The impact is more than just sadness or anxiety—it is developmental. Children who move from home to home often regress emotionally by several months, reverting to behaviors they had previously outgrown, such as bedwetting, tantrums, or excessive fear of separation. Each time a child is moved, their emotional development may slide backward by up to six months, making it even more difficult for them to process their feelings and build resilience.

Academic Impact: Disrupting Learning and Progress

A stable home environment is critical for educational success, providing children with consistency, support, and encouragement. When a child is moved from home to home, their schooling is often disrupted as well. New schools mean new teachers, new classmates, and new curriculum structures, and the emotional toll of these moves affects their ability to focus and perform well.

Every placement disruption can set a child back academically by up to six months. The stress and trauma from each move can impede their ability to concentrate, retain information, and engage in the classroom. These academic setbacks, if not addressed, can have long-term consequences, limiting their future opportunities and further widening the achievement gap compared to peers who experience more stable environments.

Behavioral Impact: Acting Out as a Cry for Stability

Behavioral challenges are common in children who experience placement disruptions. Each move adds layers of stress and insecurity, often causing children to regress in their behavioral maturity. These children may act out in ways that are not age-appropriate—becoming more defiant, aggressive, or withdrawn—as a means of expressing their fear and confusion.

A child who might have been progressing well with emotional regulation can suddenly regress, acting like a much younger child. For each disruption, their behavioral development can regress up to six months, as they test boundaries in new environments and struggle to adapt to the expectations of each new caregiver.

Children use their behavior to communicate feelings they might not have the words for, and every placement disruption makes it harder for them to cope and regulate those emotions.

Compound Trauma: The Cost of Moving from Home to Home

Placement disruptions do not occur in isolation. Each move builds upon the trauma of the last, creating a compounded effect that leaves lasting scars. For children who are moved from kinship care—where they might have had a sense of family and connection—to a stranger’s home, this trauma can be even more intense. The sudden loss of familiarity, family ties, and cultural identity further erodes the child’s sense of self.

These cumulative effects mean that every time a child is moved, they can regress up to six months in their social, emotional, academic, and behavioral development. Over time, this compounded trauma can significantly delay their overall growth, making it difficult to catch up and fully heal from their experiences.

In essence, moving from home to home, whether from a relative to a stranger or between multiple foster homes, creates an environment where a child feels as if they are constantly in survival mode. The fear of the next move, the next loss, and the next rejection becomes all-consuming, and their ability to progress developmentally becomes more and more compromised.

What Can Be Done? Advocating for Stability

Understanding the profound effects of placement disruption should compel us to seek better solutions for these vulnerable children. Stability must become a priority in child welfare. Efforts to maintain children within their kinship networks, where they are more likely to feel safe and connected, should be prioritized. Additionally, when moves are unavoidable, it is crucial to provide emotional and psychological support to help children process their feelings and cope with the changes.

Trauma-informed care is essential in addressing the complex emotional and behavioral needs of children who have experienced multiple placements. Social workers, caregivers, educators, and advocates must work together to create environments that are stable, nurturing, and predictable to mitigate the lasting effects of compound trauma and developmental regression.

Conclusion

Children who experience placement disruptions face an uphill battle as they navigate the social, emotional, academic, and behavioral impacts of their ever-changing environments. Each move not only reopens wounds of abandonment and loss but also sets the child back developmentally by up to six months. The trauma of being removed from their biological parents is only the beginning of their struggle, with each subsequent move deepening their pain and delaying their growth.

We must recognize that every time a child is moved, their development and well-being are at stake. By focusing on stability, maintaining kinship connections, and providing trauma-informed care, we can begin to lessen the damaging effects of placement disruption and offer these children a chance to heal and thrive.

A Call for Better Resources and Support

Relatives as parents do so with immense love, but love alone is not enough to overcome the deep emotional wounds caused by trauma. Kinship caregivers need access to resources, education, and support networks that can help them understand trauma and how to parent in a way that promotes healing.

At the San Angelo Family Network, we believe that no kinship caregiver should feel alone in this journey. We are committed to providing resources, guidance, and support to ensure that kinship families can thrive, even in the face of the significant challenges they face.

If you are a kinship caregiver struggling, know that you are not alone. Reach out for help, access trauma-informed training, and connect with other caregivers who understand what you’re going through. Together, we can help our children heal and build stronger, more resilient families.

Call to Action:

If you or someone you know is navigating the challenges of kinship caregiving, we invite you to explore the trauma-informed resources available on our website. Don’t hesitate to reach out for support, and join the conversation on our Facebook page where kinship caregivers can share their stories and find community.