From The Moderate Voice:
I had never heard of the term Resignation Syndrome until very recently. But when I came face to face with a child suffering from Resignation Syndrome, I recognized it immediately from something I encountered many times in the past. Currently it is impacting mainly refugee children. It was first recognized as a medical condition in Sweden, impacting children of refugees whose families were turned down for asylum.
What commonly happens is when the family and child hear this news, the child starts to shut down psychologically thinking Life is hopeless since they will be forced to return to the terrible conditions they just left. In the face of this trauma, the child takes to bed abandoning food and drink and entering a catatonic state where even painful stimuli do not arouse them. This is obviously a very serious medical condition as the child needs feeding tubes and saline drips to stay alive.
What brought this medical condition to the forefront of my mind was the ex-Honduran family that has worked at our home since 1994. As I have mentioned in the past, some members of this family are Green Card holders, some U.S. citizens, some illegal and one 9 year girl who is a “dreamer”. This is pretty typical of extended immigrant families as it takes years to work through all the ins and outs of our immigration system. She has been in the U.S since she was 2 years old.