Effects of living in the Woods on Older Kids

[countryhorror]

Hello little details,
Two of the characters in the story I'm drafting get abandoned in the woods by their parents. They're about 10 years old when that happens and at the start of the actual story they're 13/14, with ideally only a couple of months passing after leaving the woods. I have not worked out the exact details, though since I'm working in a fantasy setting I have considered having fairies kidnap one or both of them to explain the timeframe.
So far my research has only yielded cases where the isolation started way too young for my time frame, or the child in question was gone for only a few days.
I assume social skills *will* be negatively affected by isolation, but to what extent? Are there any other major psychological effects I should keep in mind? Any behaviors you'd expect to form after the period?
Thank you all in advance !

Comments

[mific]

They'd have normal speech by age 10 and would talk with each other so wouldn't lose that. Social skills would depend on the setting and whether they had any caregivers there, and what the culture of those carers was. I imaging they'd become pretty dependant on each other, and would mistrust caregivers, having been abandoned. Depends if they have healing experiences in the forest.
It also depemds what their upbringing was like before they were abandoned. That doesn't sound like loving parents! So they might already have been at least emotionally abused, or neglected, and that would play a major part.