Hector and Sue Badeau owned a Logos store in Northampton, Mass., when God further stirred their desire to adopt. After four years (1979-1983), they gave up the store, but now have created a “forever family” for 22 children. The Badeaus tell their story in Are We There Yet? The Ultimate Road Trip: Adopting and Raising 22 Kids!, released this week from Carpenter’s Son Publishing.

While expecting their first child in 1979, they applied for international adoption and soon had a big brother for daughter Chelsea. By the time they adopted their 20th child, daughter Geeta, they had 22 children, including three sets of siblings. A mix of races and ethnicities, the children come from the United States, India and El Salvador.

They had asked God to bring them the children who most needed them, children who would otherwise remain in foster care or institutions, and most have special needs. Three of their adopted sons have already died, as their disabilities took their lives before they entered adulthood.

“When God called us to begin a family, we knew that we were taking the first steps in what would become our lifelong journey—yet we had no idea how the many detours, delays, side trips, dangerous mountain terrain and treacherous valleys would both thrill and terrify us while shaping our lives in ways we never would have predicted, “ Hector writes.

Following their Christian bookstore ministry, they started an adoption agency. As the family grew, Sue began a career in child welfare and juvenile justice. Now a national consultant and speaker, she has served as a public policy fellow in the office of Sen. John Rockefeller IV, deputy director for the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, executive director of the Philadelphia Children’s Commission and a director for Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest foundation focused on foster care. She is also an advisor to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and beginning next year will serve as chairman of the board for the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

Hector was the principal at-home caregiver, and now that their children are grown, he works with homeless adults.

The couple has received awards for children’s advocacy, been honored at the White House on two occasions and received national media attention, including stories in Woman’s Day, the New York Times and on CBS Morning News. Read their story at www.badeaufamily.com/ouradoptionstory.htm. To order the book, go to www.stl-distribution.com.

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