Commission Staff

Sue Badeau
Executive Director

Sue Badeau, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Children's Commission, has been a child welfare professional for 27 years. During this time, she has worked at every level in this arena, from direct casework to administration, at the local, state and national level. Most recently, she served as Deputy Director of the national, nonpartisan Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, and as a policy consultant for child welfare agencies, organizations and foundations. Badeau was a Public Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate in 1999, where she worked on the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act, a follow up to the landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). Also active in child health, education and disability initiatives, she has served on the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Special Needs Task Force and as the Pennsylvania representative for Family Voices, a national child-health organization, for over a decade. She writes extensively on children's issues, and is a frequent speaker at conferences nationally and internationally. A Philadelphia resident, she and her husband have been foster parents to more than 50 children and have adopted 20 children from foster care, whom they have raised alongside their two biological children. Badeau has a B.A. in Elementary Education and has completed work towards a Master's degree.