INDEX OF QUOTES
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Marasmus, a failure to thrive, is a disease that ravaged orphanages, hospitals, and institutions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This disease was lethal and when translated literally it means wasting away. The child would lose weight and appetite until it died. The cause of this disease was the lack of physical contact from other humans. Everyone needs to be touched, stroked, cuddled, fondled, and held. Without this tactile stimulation, children and adults do not grow in a healthy way. Their emotional selves grow gnarled, crooked, bent, and deformed. They can be smoothed, straightened, and supported by touch. The ever-increasing realization of the extent of physical and sexual abuse, in the field of child and youth care has thrown many agencies and professionals into a panic. Lawsuits and allegations have marred the reputations of workers and agencies. Some institutions, especially those servicing the adolescent and pre-adolescent population, have passed sanctions against child and youth care professionals hugging and holding the youth in their care. The tragic irony of this situation is that children and youth in care need touch to get well; yet, their healers have their hands tied. Children, with few exceptions, have a strong need for physical contact and, for some, this is their primary mode of learning. They need to touch and to be touched in order to understand. Children under stress require more physical contact than usual. The child and youth care professional’s task is to guide the child towards appropriate and inappropriate ways of fulfilling this sometimes ravenous need. Once a positive relationship has been established, all children benefit from appropriate physical contact. Each child requires varying degrees of touch. An environment where open and honest physical contact is provided allows each child to fulfill his/her needs from whomever or whatever is appropriate. Physical contact, for those children who are hypersensitive to touch, should be administered slowly and monitored until the child is comfortable with being touched. Cases of hypersensitivity in children and youth should always be treated under the care of a team of professionals. Among different cultures, families, groups, and pairs, physical contact is enjoyed and transmitted in a wide variety of healthy and wholesome ways. Touch is a very powerful and a very personal way of developing trust. |
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