Foster & adoptive families
Behavior makes more sense when we understand what happened first.
I work with foster and adoptive parents and families navigating trauma, attachment, regulation, challenging behaviors, and the particular exhaustion of parenting children whose stories began before they came home.
You can love your child and still feel exhausted
Control battles, loyalty grief, dysregulation, placement transitions, and the loneliness of loving a child whose behavior confuses the people around you — these are not parenting failures. They are the ordinary cost of extraordinary caregiving.
My commitment to foster and adoptive families is both professional and personal. Having been a foster parent myself, I understand some of the beauty, complexity, grief, and uncertainty that can come with loving a child whose story began before they entered your home.
What we look at underneath the behavior
Trauma
Early experiences shaped your child's nervous system long before they could tell anyone about them. Current behavior is often a survival response replayed in a safer place.
Attachment needs
A child pushing away may be protecting themselves from the possibility of loss. A child clinging may be trying to answer an old question: will you stay?
Nervous system regulation
Big behaviors usually mean a nervous system that has not yet learned it can come back down. We build practical tools for both child and caregiver.
The caregiver's nervous system
You cannot pour into your child from an empty cup. Secondary trauma and burnout are real, and they deserve attention too.
How I work with foster & adoptive families
EMDR
For children and caregivers when trauma memories are stuck and continue to drive reactions, fears, or beliefs that don't match the present.
Attachment-based therapy
Repairing and strengthening the caregiver-child relationship as the primary path toward lasting change.
Practical caregiver support
Concrete tools you can use between sessions, plus space to process the parts of this journey no one else sees.
Also for your marriage
Foster and adoptive parenting asks something ordinary marriage advice never anticipated. I also offer couples sessions for parents carrying the caregiving load together — or feeling like it is pulling you apart.
Learn about foster & adoptive couples therapyStart with a conversation
Tell me a little about your family and what you're carrying. I reply within two business days.
Reach out about your family