Family Of 10 Adopted Children Revels In Adapted Floor Hockey

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They say a sports team is like a family. On the Anoka-Hennepin adapted floor hockey team, it pretty much literally is – with four siblings from the France family on the floor at the same time.

"I think it's really cool," said Hana France, the oldest of the four. "Because I don't think I've ever seen a family play together, this big, on one team, at the same time."

They all belong to Sue France. She and her husband started out with three biological children.

Then they adopted 10 more.

"We always wanted to have a big family," she said.

These are their four youngest. Hana's a senior, Kai and Mia are juniors, and little Stevey is a freshman on the top-seeded team in the physical impairment division of the state tournament.

"And we decided we only wanted special needs kids, because they're special," Sue said. "It was just something we felt in our hearts that God had led us to do."

Thirteen children, 10 of them adopted with disabilities. It takes a special kind of person to take on that kind of responsibility. So if you're thinking Sue ought to be nominated for sainthood, so do her kids.

"Oh, she's like a saint, an angel," Mia said. "Honestly, to be able to adopt and handle all (of us)? Yeah, none of us are easy. I don't think any teenagers or kids are easy to handle. And to be able to do that 12 or 13 times, is unbelievable."

But Sue doesn't think about all the work. She just knows it's all been worth it.

"The kids are all very supportive of each other, and they stick very close together," she said. "It's just very, amazing to watch my kids, what they've become."