SUE BADEAU
WESTFIELD – Sue Badeau, recipient of the presidential “Adoption Excellence Award” and mother of 22, will be the keynote speaker at “Healing Homes – Building Bridges of Connection”, an adoption and foster care conference tomorrow at the Westfield Evangelical Free Church (WEFC).
The conference, the second of its kind for the church, is being organized by WEFC’s “Healing Homes of the Greater Pioneer Valley”, a foster care and adoption ministry of the church. They have been involved in and around the communities of Westfield cultivating connections between foster families.
“We know there’s a need,” said Tricia Sayre, one of the leaders of the ministry and facilitators for the event, referencing kids in western Mass. who are currently in out-of-home placement. “‘Healing Homes’ is about responding to that need.”
In addition to connecting families already involved in foster care and adoption work, “Building Bridges” will also serve as a gateway for families who might be interested in fostering or adoption who would like to know more about what such a commitment would entail.
“The great part about this conference is that it is designed to connect people not only to resources, but to one another – other foster families,” said Sayre.
Badeau lived in Northampton with her husband Hector for a time, and are the parents of 22 children, two by birth and 20 by adoption. Badeau was recognized with an “Angels in Adoption” award from Congress and was also honored by President Bill Clinton with the “Adoption Excellence Award”, both national acknowledgements of exceptional work in the sector of adoption and foster care.
Badeau and her husband wrote “Are We There Yet? Adopting and Raising 22 Kids”, a book that details the struggles they faced as an ever-growing family. She said that she and her husband felt called to write about their own family experiences after their own searches for helpful books on foster care and adoption turned up lacking.
“Everything we found just talked about the good times,” Badeau explained. “But it’s not always like that: It’s hard. Working through the problems these kids face everyday is not magic and it’s not instant. We wanted to write a book about how you fight through the trenches, side-by-side, with them.”
Sayre and her keynote speaker have said that dealing with those tough times is going to be one of the cornerstones of the conference. In three separate, one-hour sessions, Badeau will discuss the basics of childhood trauma, how foster families can help kids when they’re in their homes and how parents can strengthen their own skills and be best equipped to deal with the issues their kids face.
“It is so important to surround yourself with other people and other foster and adoptive families,” Badeau said. “That way you can build each other up and be each other’s resources when you need them most.”
“Building Bridges of Connection” will be Healing Home’s second foster care and adoption conference. The cost is $10 for individuals and $15 for couples and can be paid at the door. You can also sign up at WEFC’s website. The conference will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 3 p.m., with a couple breakout sessions interspersed between the main presentations.
