Dr. Helen Gogarty:

A few things come to mind in response to Senator Ruane. As Ms Bond said, children are not taken into care lightly. They usually have experienced physical abuse, trauma, neglect or sexual abuse and they carry the memory of that. That then shapes their expectations of how their foster parents will behave towards them. For example, if they have been exposed to a lot of alcohol, they very often expect the same thing to happen. It takes a while for them to realise it is not the same. It takes a long time for them to realise they are safe. The physical reality of safety in foster care is not matched by the child's perception of it, because that is how trauma works. Children continue to feel afraid and feel as though they are unsafe when, objectively, they are safe. In my experience, such children behave in several different ways. Some children are compliant. Some are very angry and aggressive, however, and some combine both patterns.

Access is very important for children, but it is sometimes beyond the capacity of the child's nervous system to manage if he or she has been subjected to a lot of trauma prior to coming into care. When children go to access, they experience sensory reminders of the trauma, and sometimes they become so overwhelmed they cannot manage, which results in sleep disturbance, problems with eating, and every indication their nervous system is overwhelmed. In that situation it can be appropriate to stop access for a time to help children achieve a level of emotional regulation so they can resume contact with their parents.