ABSTRACT
Joanna is a thin, pale, seven-year-old who comes too readily, too easily with me into the therapy room. At the same time she is wary and suspicious. As therapy progresses I learn the full extent of her distrust and the measures she takes to protect herself, and to persuade herself that she does not need to be close to anyone. She is often angry, breaks all the rules, swears volubly and profanely and sometimes shouts in rage that she hates me and could not care less about me, her foster parents or her social worker. At school she is unable to concentrate or settle to school work. At playtime she is often to be found scrapping with other children or bullying them. Parents of the other children have been to the school to complain. The foster parents despair, feeling that she does not seem to respond to their love and concern. Their attempts to provide a caring home are met with abuse, rebellion and outright scorn by this tiny child.
