Sign-In
Cart
Beneath the Behavior: A Trauma-Informed Guide to Foster Parenting, Healing, and Everyday Compassion
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 10 2026
Pages: 86
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.21 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
What if the behavior you see is only the surface of the story?
A child may seem angry, defiant, withdrawn, controlling, dishonest, or impossible to reach. But beneath those behaviors may be fear, grief, hunger, shame, loss, uncertainty, and a nervous system shaped by survival.
Beneath the Behavior is a compassionate, practical guide for foster parents, kinship caregivers, teachers, helping professionals, and anyone who wants to understand trauma with greater clarity and respond with greater wisdom.
Through relatable stories, reflection questions, and everyday tools, LaTina Figures explains how trauma can affect the brain, body, emotions, relationships, and behavior. Readers will learn how to recognize survival responses, build felt safety, connect before correcting, prepare for triggers and setbacks, support teens, honor first families, and care for themselves along the way.
Inside, you will discover how to:
Recognize behavior as communicationUnderstand fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responsesBuild trust through consistency, structure, and compassion
Respond to meltdowns, aggression, food hoarding, lying, withdrawal, and control
Create routines and rituals that help children feel safeUse connection, co-regulation, and repair after conflict
Support reunification while respecting a child's love for their first family
Recognize caregiver stress, burnout, and secondary trauma
Apply trauma-informed compassion at home, school, work, and in everyday life
Trauma-informed care does not mean ignoring boundaries or allowing unsafe behavior. It means looking beneath the behavior, understanding the need, and responding with both structure and compassion.
Healing does not happen through perfection. It happens through safe relationships, repeated moments of trust, and adults who keep showing up.
Also from
Figures, Latina
All My Feelings Belong: A Story About Big Feelings, Foster Care, and Family Healing
Figures, Latina
Paperback
Green Eyes in the Snow: A Wilderness Story of Trust Between a Man and the Wild
Figures, Amarii
Paperback
Between Two Worlds: : Trauma, Foster Care, and the Children Left in Between
Figures, Latina
Paperback
Blood on the Savanna: A Gripping Survival Thriller of Loss, Instinct, and the Fight to Stay Alive
Figures, Amarii
Figures, Latina
Paperback
The Whole Person: What Happened to You Changed Everything-This Will Help You Take It Back
Figures, Latina
Paperback
Also in
Pregnancy & Adoption
First-Time Fostering: A Practical Guide for Supporting Kids in Foster Care
Laura the Foster Parent Partner
Paperback
Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies That Really Work
Gobbel, Robyn
Paperback
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins
Demick, Barbara
Paperback
Essential FASD Supports: Understanding and Supporting People with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Sheets, Nate
Paperback
The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family
Cross, David R.
Sunshine, Wendy Lyons
Purvis, Karyn B.
Paperback
Raising Kids and Teens with Fasd: Advice and Strategies to Help Your Family to Thrive!
Clark, Barb
Paperback
The Connected Parent: Real-Life Strategies for Building Trust and Attachment
Qualls, Lisa C.
Purvis, Karyn
Paperback
This Little Fire of Mine: How Flickers of Doubt Can Spark a Bolder, Brighter Faith
Mariah, Kendall
Paperback
The Complete Book of Baby Names: The Most Names, Most Lists, Most Help to Find the Best Name
Bolton, Lesley
Paperback
Breaking the Patterns That Break You: Healing from the Pain of Your Past and Finding Real Hope That Lasts
Petersen, Tori Hope
Paperback
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood
Sisson, Gretchen
Paperback
They Cage the Animals at Night: The True Story of an Abandoned Child's Struggle for Emotional Survival
Burch, Jennings Michael
Paperback
Baby's Book The First Five Years: Memory Keeper First Time Parent As You Grow Baby Shower Gift
Placate, Holly
Paperback
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood
Sisson, Gretchen
Hardcover
Runs in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging
McCullough, Deland
Spain, Sarah
Hardcover
Children Like Us: A Métis Woman's Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home
Penner, Brittany
Paperback
Dancing with a Porcupine: Parenting wounded children without losing your self
Owens, Jennie Lynn
Paperback
Love Does Not Conquer All: And Other Surprising Lessons I Learned as a Foster Dad to More Than 40 Kids
Mutabazi, Peter
Paperback
Raising Adopted Children, Revised Edition: Practical Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent
Melina, Lois Ruskai
Paperback
Just Hold Her: A Foster Mother's Memoir of Medicine, Caregiving, and the Long Nights Together
Wright, Judy
Paperback
Between the Mountain and the Sky: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss, Healing, and Hope
Doyne, Maggie
Paperback
Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services--Notes of a Former Caseworker
Pryce, Jessica
Paperback
First-Time Mom's Baby Journal: Create a Keepsake, Record Bonding Experiences, and Stay Organized
Grossen, Aubrey
Paperback
Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society
Wingate, Lisa
Christie, Judy
Paperback
One from Each Column: My 46-Year Trek from Abusive Childhood to Elusive Motherhood
Tolman, Jodi Mitchel
Paperback
Reclaim Compassion: The Adoptive Parent's Guide to Overcoming Blocked Care with Neuroscience and Faith
Qualls, Lisa C.
Corkum, Melissa
Paperback
Irish Baby Names: What They Mean and How to Pronounce Them
Drea, Gavin
O'Connor, Féilim
Buckly, Morgan
Hardcover
Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies
Holden, Lori
Vander Vliet Ranyard, Kelsey
Easterly, Sara
Hardcover
Twelve Stripes Deep: How Infertility & Other Suffering Delivered My Greatest Joys
Bruno, Mary
Paperback
The Name Book: Over 10,000 Names--Their Meanings, Origins, and Spiritual Significance
Astoria, Dorothy
Paperback
Just Hold Her: A Foster Mother's Memoir of Medicine, Caregiving, and the Long Nights Together
Wright, Judy
Hardcover
Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies
Ranyard, Kelsey Vander Vliet
Holden, Lori
Easterly, Sara
Paperback
No One to Miss Me: Can Cathy Help Troubled Lily Sort Her Life Out and Piece Together the Truth
Glass, Cathy
Paperback
Somewhere Out There, There's More: My Experience of Adoption, My Search for Understanding and the Twist That Changed Everything
Huckaby, Ronna Quimby
Paperback
13 Beams of Moonlight: Gentle Guidance for Families and Communities Living with FASD
Evensen, Deb
Paperback
Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots
Melanson, Yvette
Safran, Claire
Paperback
Cut: The True Story of an Abandoned, Abused Little Girl Who Was Desperate to Be Part of a Family
Glass, Cathy
Paperback
Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed
O'Connor, Stephen
Paperback
Best Grandmother Names Ever: Choose Your Perfect Grandma Name, from Bubbe and Gigi to Memaw and Nana
Livingstone, Cathy
Paperback
The Baby Scoop Era: Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoption and Forced Surrender
Wilson-Buterbaugh, Karen
Paperback
The Post-Adoption Blues: Overcoming the Unforseen Challenges of Adoption
Foli, Karen J.
Thompson, John R.
Paperback
Lower the Bar and Hide the Sharpies: A Survival Guide for New Foster and Adoptive Families
Egbert, Katie
Paperback
Foster the Family: Encouragement, Hope, and Practical Help for the Christian Foster Parent
Finn, Jamie C.
Paperback
How did you find me...after all these years?: A Family Memoir
Vinar, Karen Kathleen
Voxland, Jean and Andrew
Vinar, Dennis Eugene
Paperback
Beneath the Mask: For Teen Adoptees: Teens and Young Adults Share Their Stories
Center for Adoption Support and Educatio
Paperback
The Spirit of Parenting: Fifty Thoughts on Loving Your Child (and Everyone Else, Including Yourself)
Bradley, Spirit Donna
Paperback
Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services--Notes of a Former Caseworker
Pryce, Jessica
Hardcover
Raising Capable Kids: The 12 Habits Every Parent Needs Regardless of Their Child's Label or Challenge
Winking, Deborah
Paperback
Redefining Normal: How Two Foster Kids Beat The Odds and Discovered Healing, Happiness and Love
Black, Alexis
Black, Justin
Paperback
Sons of Other Fathers: A Memoir of Adoption, Identity, and the Relationships That Define Family
Parks, Rick
Paperback
A Terrible Secret: Scared for Her Safety, Tilly Places Herself Into Foster Care. a Shocking True Story.
Glass, Cathy
Paperback
Reframing Foster Care: Filtering Your Foster Parenting Journey Through the Lens of the Gospel
Johnson, Jason
Paperback
Relinquished.: A mother's choice and my 30 year journey to find my birth family
Yaffe, Robert J.
Paperback
Tiny Prisoners: Two Siblings Trapped in a World of Abuse. One Woman Determined to Free Them
Hartley, Maggie
Paperback
When Love Is Not Enough: Parenting a Child with Trauma, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Borderline Traits
Koehler, Rj
Paperback
Parenting Children of Trauma: A Foster-Adoption Guide to Understanding Attachment Disorders
Pusey, Marcy
Paperback
There Are More Like Me: Search, Reunion, and Synchronicity in Adoption
Henderson, Douglas B.
Paperback
In Reunion: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Communication of Family
Docan-Morgan, Sara
Paperback
Normal Schmormal: My Occasionally Helpful Guide to Parenting Kids with Special Needs
Blaker, Ashley
Paperback
Inspired Baby Names from Around the World: 6,000 International Names and the Meaning Behind Them
Shane, Neala
Paperback
The Girl with Three Birthdays: An Adopted Daughter's Memoir of Tiaras, Tough Truths, and Tall Tales
Eddington, Patti
Paperback
Way Beyond: A Birth Mother's Journey Through Teenage Pregnancy, Adoption, and Faith
Lee, Linda Ruth
Paperback
Parenting with Theraplay(r): Understanding Attachment and How to Nurture a Closer Relationship with Your Child
Rodwell, Helen
Norris, Vivien
Paperback
Open Adoption Experience: Complete Guide for Adoptive and Birth Families - From Making the Decision Throug
Melina, Lois Ruskai
Paperback
Little Mister Victory: A Daughter's Search for the Woman Who Abandoned Her Father on Vj Day
Kruh, David
Drzal, Tina
Paperback
What White Parents Should Know about Transracial Adoption: An Adoptee's Perspective on Its History, Nuances, and Practices
Guida-Richards, Melissa
Paperback
Those Three Words: A Birth Mother's Story of Choice, Chance, and Motherhood
Bauer, Christine
Paperback