Foreclosures Take an Emotional Toll on Homeowners

"Often, there is a dilemma of not being able to afford private mental-health treatment in the midst of a financial crisis," says Joseph Weiner, a psychiatrist and chief of consultation psychiatry at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. "Children will likely feel the parents' tension around financial stress. This could cause feelings of helplessness and anxiety in the child. Sometimes, young children blame themselves for their parents' stressful situation."

Jennifer Paschal, 36, of Woodstock, Ga., has tried to ease the effect of the foreclosure of her home on her children, Bailey, 12, and Trent, 9. But she says they've been deeply pained. After 13 years of marriage, Paschal is going through a divorce. The divorce and medical bills led the family to lose its home to foreclosure in April. Paschal couldn't afford the $1,300 monthly mortgage payment on her $45,000 annual salary as a day care center director.

The home is a six-bedroom house on an acre of land, with a trampoline in the backyard, blooming pink azaleas and rose bushes, and a muddy creek where Trent and Bailey would catch frogs and play with their two dogs, a retriever and a Labrador.

Before they left, Paschal took the children to their rooms and told them to fill a box with whatever they wanted to take with them. They moved in July to a two-bedroom, $900-a-month apartment. The "for sale" sign on the house they lost to foreclosure went up this month. When she saw a picture of it, Paschal says, she cried.

The children are suffering, too. Trent worries about money. Recently, at the grocery store, he told his mother not to buy milk because it cost $4. He begs his mother to get a house again, saying that he's old enough now to cut the grass.

"It's hard," Paschal says. "I think they see things very differently now. My son asked me how much money I have, and I told him not to worry about it. We had to give away our Lab and our bird dog (because it seemed unfair to keep them in such a small apartment). That killed my son. That tore him apart, big time."

In the new apartment, Paschal doesn't sleep well. After she goes to bed, she hears Trent scurry out of his bed to make sure all the doors are locked. Then Trent comes to her room and quietly tells his mother she can sleep now because everything is safe.