A DEVOTED mother who adopted nine children over an 18 years, including those categorised as ‘hard to place’, has been recognised in the Queen’s New Year honours list.

Sue Clifford, 58, of Slough, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for her service to Children and Families.

Mrs Clifford received the accolade for adopting as many as nine ‘profoundly troubled children’ who had been labelled as ‘harder to place’ by the authorities between 1990 and 2008, and for her services to adoption as a whole.

She said: “I never expected the MBE. I’m very honoured but very surprised. I’ve learnt a lot and I value the support of others, I just wanted to help.”

Mrs Clifford and her husband Jim began their parenting fostering marathon by adopting sisters Justine, then aged six, and Lisa, then ten, in 1990. Brothers Wayne, then seven, and Chris, then eight, joined their family in 1994. Ten years later, the couple adopted a sibling group of four – Devon, then ten, Courteney, then seven, Caledon, then five, and Lewis, then four.

Their family was completed when they adopted Maisie, then eight, in 2008. Maisie, who had two failed adoptions behind her, featured in a BBC documentary called A Home for Maisie that broadcast in 2011.

Mrs Clifford said: “There have been some bad moments when the children’s trauma was playing out. You think ‘I can’t carry on’ but then you get that glimmer which gives you hope.

“The satisfaction you get from the children doing well is so rewarding. All of our children are successful in what they’re doing and they’re exceeding what we thought they’d be able to manage. Life certainly would’ve been boring had we never adopted.”

For Over the last 20 years, Mrs Clifford has supported more than 250 families by mentoring, promoting and improving support for adoptersive parents. She was was one of the key voices behind the the development of therapeutic parenting in the UK and also campaigned for the Adoption Support Fund, set up in May 2015.

Mrs Clifford has worked closely with the charity Adoption UK, running the Surrey support group for four years before becoming a founding member of the ‘buddy’ scheme in the early nineties which offered support to parents who had only recently adopted. Mr and Mrs Clifford are now a very much decorated couple, after Mr Clifford was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2013 for his services to social investment with his work in adoption.