Many children have been traumatized or ignored and neglected by their birth parents and families, foster parents, multiple moves within the foster care system, and by physical, emotional and sexual abuse. AD children have learned that the world is unsafe, and have developed unhealthy protective shells around their hearts which isolate them from the pain of attachment and dependancy to adult care givers. Their credo for survival becomes, "All for me, and me for me."
These protective shells become very difficult to remove, as they are depended upon by the child as their sole means of coping and surviving with the world. In essence they become the providers for their own protection, and they see anyone else wanting to remove this protective barrier as a threat. Hence, they turn against the very ones who want to help them the most, the parental care givers.
