Look. I am not American. I lived there for 11 years and I think you are a very strange people. A one time incident where the child is separated from a stepmother (with whom she is unlikely to have formed much of a relationship in the short time mentioned) is not going to cause trauma. That's especially so if she is traveling with the mother. The headline of the article is unadulaterated bullshit.

A child put in a cage is traumatised because there is no family with him. If you honestly cannot see the difference between the two, then you need a brain.