I agree: ripping these children from their parents is about as traumatizing an event as could ever happen to them, perhaps equal to whatever sexual abuse some have experienced. And what of the children to whom no sexual abuse was perpetrated? They are now scarred for life just as deeply. I am speaking from first-hand experience, here, not just spouting an opinion.
That youth home where I was a resident counselor in 1972, will soon pass its 60th anniversary and is still lauded as one of the best in the nation at rescuing children from broken homes or the streets. Having said that, the boys felt, at least back then, as if they were in prison with no one that actually cared about them. Some felt that the only reason they were there was so that the home could collect support money from the state. It was clear that several boys were training for incarceration at the state home and eventually state prison, or heading for a violent death in any number of ways.