Storm's toll on children could be far-reaching
Distress symptoms often hard to spot
BATON ROUGE -- At one point while his family was evacuating New Orleans the day before Hurricane Katrina hit, 5-year-old Frank Joshua Smith asked his mother whether God planned to kill the whole world.
''When he asked that, I explained that sometimes God allows things to happen to get people's attention," said Lisa Simoneaux, 37. ''And that we don't always know why."
As Frank yesterday tossed a Nerf ball with newfound friends at a shelter here in Louisiana's capital, he lamented his unfamiliar new life: ''I want to go home. This is boring. You can't play no games."
The hurricane's hidden toll may lie in the minds and hearts of children, thousands of whom are living in shelters or temporary homes without their friends, pets, and toys. Food queues and long periods of idleness have replaced the routine of school and play. Their parents, often under enormous stress, can be snappish, distraught, or inattentive.
Specialists on the mental health of children say many of those displaced could suffer long-running emotional trauma as this jarring new reality sets in. As the relief effort turns from crisis management to long-term resettlement, health care volunteers at shelters housing evacuees around the country are on the lookout for signs of distress among children and plan to begin sending children to local counselors and therapists if necessary.
''Grief and loss will be the biggest issue. Everything familiar to them is gone," said Vicki North, an American Red Cross volunteer running mental health services at Baton Rouge's main shelter, where more than 550 children were housed yesterday. ''When we find out about the death toll, we may find they lost friends."
But at the same time, some children may prove to be the storm's most resilient victims, able to take the upheaval in stride. Interviews with dozens of children in the shelter at the Baton Rouge convention center found evidence of both reactions. In their answers to a reporter's questions, they volunteered their interpretations of what happened and why. It was Hurricane Katrina seen through the eyes of children.
''There was way too much killing going on in New Orleans. God sent the storm to punish them," said Andreion Quinn, 9, who lived in a poor neighborhood with a high crime rate that is now under water. ''Everyone will know not to kill people because of what they went through."
Like Andreion, many of the children interviewed described Katrina as punishment for wrongdoing in their neighborhoods. Most of them came from New Orleans' poorer districts, which had high rates of murder and other violent crime.
''It's not uncommon for kids to explain traumatic events through local factors," said Dr. Stuart Goldman, director of psychiatric education at Children's Hospital Boston, in a telephone interview.
Just before noon yesterday, the shelter in the cavernous Baton Rouge River Center reverberated with the sounds of youth. Dozens of children ran around laughing, some twirling hula-hoops, others throwing balls or crashing toy cars, enlivening the otherwise sedate and somber mood.
Andreion sat on a cot with her sister, A'Kaycia Quinn, 7, discussing the fate of their dogs, Diamond and Tank, who were left behind at their home in the city's Ninth Ward. ''I want to go home to get our dogs," said A'Kaycia.
''If they're alive," her sister said.
''I think they're alive 'cause Tank can swim," said A'Kaycia. ''But I'm worried about the electric eels."
As with the Quinn sisters, many children in the shelter worried about what became of their pets. Angel Sylve, 8, said she had not seen her puppy Bull since the day before Katrina struck.
''Maybe someone found him and is taking care of him," she said. ''Or maybe he's at another shelter."
As Angel talked to a reporter, her father, Adam Sylve, 41, angrily questioned a Red Cross volunteer about when federal housing grants would become available.
''The parents are going through so much, the kids aren't getting the attention they need," said Sarah Hargadine, 20, a Red Cross volunteer from Boulder, Colo., who has helped run a children's activities center in the shelter. ''Some of [the children] say they are fine. But then you realize that they still think they're going home."
Goldman of Children's Hospital said some of these children may suffer nightmares, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, or episodes of acting younger than their age after fleeing a disaster like Katrina. Others may become unusually quiet.
''Those are the ones at greatest risk. But they aren't crying or shouting, so they might not be noticed," said Goldman. ''It's hard to provide mental health first aid in that setting."
Such trauma, left untreated, could lead to serious behavioral problems over the long term that interfere with education, friendships, family life, and piece of mind.
Since being evacuated to shelters, most families fleeing the hurricane have been cared for primarily by Red Cross volunteers, who have focused thus far mostly on food and shelter. But the organization has begun to turn to the long term: helping families prepare to resettle in more permanent housing. In the process, volunteers are also attempting to identify those suffering emotional trauma, and getting them counseling in their new locales, said Red Cross officials.
But in crowded shelters, it is often difficult to spot symptoms of distress in children, said Goldman. And with many families facing months before their lives resume some semblance of normality, he said some of the kids will be forced to simply keep their anguish internalized.
''The reverberations of the hurricane will echo in these kids' lives for many years," said Goldman.
Goldman counseled Boston-area children who lost parents in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and said, ''Typically, it was only in the context of stability that they could begin to heal."
The ages of the children at the shelter had a lot to do with the sophistication of their understanding of what they had been through. Older kids like Matthew Mandato, 13, seemed to have a stronger grasp on the hurricane's particulars.
''It was gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico," he said. ''It turned into a Category 5."
His little brother, Kevin Mandato, 4, had a simpler take on the storm: ''Everyone got wet."
''Yeah. That was sad," said Matthew. ''A lot of people died."
Chroisshine Brown, 14, has no idea where most of her friends are. But days ago, she heard her best friend was at a Texas shelter.
''I think we're supposed to leave this week. I want to go to Texas," she said. Her parents, though, are unsure of their destination.
For Sheldon Seecharran, 6, recent events have been particularly bewildering. Last month, his older brother Shelley Robertson, 24, was murdered. The family buried him two days before Katrina hit.
As he fumbled with playing cards yesterday, Sheldon said the storm ''came from the water. It was black." His mother, Shirley Seecharran, 41, explained that her son has been suffering from nightmares in which everyone he knows drowns.
''I hope he'll be all right. I think he will," she said. 