A child therapist named Dr.

Patel began working with Emma.

I had an appointment too, because Dr.

Patel wanted the adults caring for her to understand how secrecy, fear, and disrupted relationships can affect a child’s sense of safety.

She explained that Emma might feel affection for her parents and anger toward them in the same hour, and that I shouldn’t demand a single neat answer.

“Children don’t heal on an adult’s timetable,” she told me.