Blocked Trust and Blocked Care: Understanding the Barriers to Connection
Children in care often struggle to trust adults. Relational trauma leaves them wary of closeness, leading to what we call 'blocked trust'. At the same time, carers can experience 'blocked care', the emotional exhaustion and detachment that can come from repeated rejection or challenging behaviour.
Therapeutic parenting helps us recognise these patterns. Using curiosity and empathy, carers can understand that a child’s rejection is often fear, not defiance. Equally, carers need reflective practice and supervision to process their own feelings and avoid slipping into blocked care.
The principles of DDP are invaluable here. By using PACE, carers show acceptance of the child’s inner world while remaining emotionally present. Over time, this builds safety and gradually restores trust
Our Therapeutic Parenting course explores blocked trust and blocked care in depth, offering carers and staff practical tools to sustain empathy, manage their own responses, and maintain strong, healing relationships with children who need them most.
