Grantee Stories

One Family, Countless Joys

by Mary Bauer

Pioneer Press - September 20, 2006

On a sunny afternoon this week, the school bus delivered an explosion of energy to one yard of an otherwise sleepy block in Vadnais Heights.

Older kids tried to head up a game of basketball, an effort that eventually dissolved into a gigglefest. One child poked another, launching a crying jag. The family black Labrador, Coco, burst from the front door and made a beeline for a plate of cookies.

It is all perfectly ordinary, say Jeanne and Neal Binsfeld, whose family of eight children is a blend of birth, adoption and fate. Their clan includes children with spina bifida, fetal alcohol syndrome and chromosomal disorders.

The Binsfelds didn't adopt their children out of a sense of charity, but because they wanted a family. They want others to see children like theirs as a source of joy, not need.

"It's just the way the world should be," Neal Binsfeld said. "You have to take care of the kids."

The Binsfelds have become champions of adopting children who have special needs, a broad category that includes older teens whose chances of finding a family are fading.

But they did not set out to be serial adopters. They first went to an adoption agency about two decades ago because they thought they couldn't have biological children. It was by chance they saw a photograph of an infant Korean girl with spina bifida — a congenital spinal cord defect — on an agency bulletin board. They fell in love.

"It was like hearing your favorite song on the radio and knowing you love it instantly," said Jeanne Binsfeld, 49. "At that moment, we knew we were on a path for life."

They adopted Sarah and their family was started. As luck would have it, Jeanne Binsfeld soon found herself pregnant. All told, they have three biological children and five by adoption — so far.

ADVOCATES FOR CHANGE

While touring Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul in 1993, Jeanne put her hand on a bed rail and a 1-year-old preemie with fetal alcohol syndrome grasped it. The following year they adopted Becca, now 14.

"We don't think we made any choices, just like a pregnant woman doesn't make choices," Jeanne Binsfeld said. "We don't believe in coincidence. There is an element of mystery to it all."

Part of the Binsfelds' gift is that where others see disabilities, they see potential, a mentality not lost on their children. Sarah, now 19, treated her wheelchair as sports equipment and a vehicle for giving rides to siblings. This August she joined a wheelchair basketball team at the University of Arizona.

"It's easy to see the gifts they have to offer and the strength they have to rise above their problems," said Neal Binsfeld, 47, a disability specialist for Allina Hospitals & Clinics.

They wish more people saw it that way.

In Minnesota, about 68 percent of the 618 children awaiting adoptive homes at the beginning of 2006 had psychological or medical disabilities, according to the state Department of Human Services.

The problem is the myths surrounding the adoption of kids with special needs, says Rebecca Jones Gaston, national campaign director for the Adoption Exchange Association. Children don't need saints, she said. They need parents willing to offer love and permanence.

Another misperception, the Binsfelds said, is that adoptive parents need deep pockets and great health insurance. Actually, Minnesota and other states offers financial assistance, including medical insurance, to families adopting children with special needs, they said.

"If this is truly your passion," Neal said, "the means will be there."

A FAMILY IN ACTION

The family picture that the Binsfelds project — chaotic, cohesive and ordinary — is what family advocates hope will encourage others to adopt children with special needs.

"Families are the best recruiters," Jones Gaston said. "They bring real life experience and demonstrate that adoptive families are not perfect, iconic posters of what the perfect family looks like."

The Binsfelds think so, too. So this summer, the Binsfelds squeezed eight kids and two wheelchairs into one van for a 6,000-mile campaign across 14 states.

"We haven't traveled a lot," Jeanne explained. "We just ignored the finances. It's a faith thing."

Faith paid off. The Crown Plaza Hotel in Bloomington donated hotel suites in every city. Their church, St. Cecilia's Catholic Church in St. Paul, paid travel expenses.

"It was just like our family," Jeanne said. "All the pieces kept coming together."

They left Vadnais Heights on Aug. 1, each Binsfeld child carrying the photograph and story of another child in Minnesota awaiting adoption. The trip was not without adventures. Chicken pox in Omaha, Neb. A nasty stingray encounter in Los Angeles. An epileptic seizure in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Binsfelds laugh as they tick off the hospital visits. But they were also able to talk about adoption to a variety of groups and the media. They are already planning a repeat for next summer, perhaps heading east this time.

They'll jam those efforts into an already-packed schedule — the family way. Neal gets the kids up and started on breakfast. Jeanne spends the day doing the bazillion things that make a household hum — laundry, shopping and doctor visits. The children pitch in on household chores and homework.

Their five-bedroom home is under consideration for demolition by the ABC-TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" because the split-level is not wheelchair accessible. They fear they might lose out because they don't have a heartbreak story the show often features.

And they are considering more adoptions, with the blessing of their children.

"For some people, it's art or music," Jeanne Binsfeld said. "This is our passion."

Mary Bauer can be reached at mbauer@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5311.

The Children

Sarah, 19, is a freshman at the University of Arizona, where she plays on the women's wheelchair basketball team. She was born with spina bifida.

Mikaela, 15, is in debate and varsity choir and will sing at Carnegie Hall this spring. She also tutors kids at-risk in the community and is trained as a personal care attendant.

Becca, 14, can pick out the breed of dog in any park at 100 yards. She was born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Marissa, 13, is creative and artistic, and plays the saxophone and clarinet.

Jenna, 11, a sixth-grader, plays the trumpet and enjoys photography.

Ben, 9, carries a red-and-white teddy bear given to him by his school janitor; it has become his permanent sidekick. Ben has a chromosomal abnormality and a cluster of disabilities that come with it.

Hannah, 5, a boisterous redhead, is blind and has epilepsy.

Jess, 4, Hannah's birth brother, is very active and "all boy."

Another child, Joey, was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect. He died at 4 months in 1997.

To Learn More

For pictures of the Binsfelds and their westward trip, go to their Web site at www.creatingconnectionseast2west.com.

For information about adopting Minnesota children in need, contact the Minnesota Adoption Resource Network at www.mnadopt.org or call 612-861-7115. See children up for adoption in other states at www.adoptuskids.org.

For information on subsidies for special needs adoptions, go to the Minnesota Department of Human Services' Web site, www.dhs.state.mn.us, and click on "Children." In Wisconsin, go to the Department of Health and Family Services' Web site at www.dhfs.state.wi.us/children/adoption.