The Adoption Parenting Playbook: A Nervous System Guide to Calming Meltdowns and Building Connection in Foster and Adoptive Families

Are you exhausted by constant meltdowns, unexpected defiance, or a child who pulls away just when you try to get close?

Parenting a child who joined your family through adoption, foster care, or kinship care asks something entirely different of you. Standard discipline charts and traditional parenting advice often fail because a trauma-affected nervous system does not operate on logic—it operates on survival.

Written by Maxine Golden, RMFTI, The Adoption Parenting Playbook translates complex neuroscience into practical, daily tools designed specifically for foster, adoptive, and court-involved families. Drawing from Polyvagal Theory, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), somatic body-based approaches, and attachment science, this playbook provides an actionable roadmap to move your home from chaos to felt safety.