Sally Donovan > Quotes

“The traumatised child learns that only it can protect itself. It must assume control, stay on high alert, scan the room, survive. These factory settings are not like the brightness of a picture or the volume of a television. These children are wired for danger and a few years in a loving home will not reset them. They need parenting in a different way, so that they can learn they are good and lovable, so that the shame of their early years is eased, so that they can experience calm and start to learn from new experiences.”
― Sally Donovan, No Matter What: An Adoptive Family's Story of Hope, Love and Healing

“better”
― Sally Donovan, The Unofficial Guide to Therapeutic Parenting for Childhood Aggression and Violence

“You need to prepare a scrapbook that can be given to the children before they meet you. With pictures of the two of you, your house, perhaps the children’s bedrooms and extended family. Anything you can think of really to introduce yourselves. And make them colourful.”
― Sally Donovan, No Matter What: An Adoptive Family's Story of Hope, Love and Healing