Minors suffer physical and emotional harm, including bullying, due to the disappearance of a family member, NGO documents

jessica xanthomila

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday February 12, 2023, p. 7

For a child or adolescent, suffering the disappearance of their father, mother or a close relative can cause both physical and emotional effects, including insomnia, problems concentrating, changes in diet and lack of motivation, said Sofía Virgen, a member of the area of psychosocial care of the Justice Center for Peace and Development (Cepad).

He indicated that through 12 workshops in which 22 minors participated and in the individual accompaniments provided by this organization based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Cepad documented that the disappearance of a loved one also has effects on school performance, and some children even reported having suffered bullying or bullying By this situation.

Virgen explained that this center mainly accompanies cases of children and adolescents who have their father or mother disappeared, but recently, she explained, there have been more requests from minors who have been affected by the absence of someone they know, such as a neighbor or another person. important to your community.

Throughout these accompaniments, he pointed out, we have observed that when the whereabouts of a loved one are unknown The daily life of the child or adolescent is disrupted because the person they love is not there, their role changes within the family dynamics and there is confusion of roles and economic changes.

In school life it is reflected in their ability to retain and concentrate, and if at school “there is not enough information or support and knowledge of how to act in these cases, it becomes more complicated, because it is even frequent that the bullying or bullying appears due to this social stigmatization towards disappeared persons”, the specialist deepened.

Suggestions

Virgen pointed out that Cepad will present a fanzine next Thursday called sonorous childhoodsthe result of workshops in which children and adolescents with absent relatives participated, from the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara and others.

In the publication they propose suggestions to accompany minors: It is emphasized that it is important to talk about the issue, listen to them and allow them to decide for themselves how to get involved in the search and investigation processes..

According to official figures, Jalisco is the entity with the most cases of disappearance (15,042), followed by the state of Mexico (12,273) and Veracruz (7,491).

Regarding the support provided by the authorities to attend to the effects suffered by minors, Virgen mentioned that in Jalisco there are accompaniment programs in the state DIF and in the Executive Commission for Attention to Victims, but families comment that it is difficult to access and attention is not prompt.