Mum-of-22 Sue Radford, 48, announces plans to have more children

26 February 2024, 08:52

By Alice Dear

Sue and Noel Radford may already be parents to 22 children, but they have now shared their plans to add to the family by adopting.

Mum-of-22 Sue Radford, 48, has revealed plans to add more children to her family, but this time via fostering or adoption.

Sue and husband Noel Radford star in Channel 5's 22 Kids and Counting, where they document the realities of raising Britain's biggest family which they have continued to add to since marrying in 1992.

Having spent over 16 years of her life pregnant, Sue has admitted that she and Noel are "addicted to children" and that they're not done adding to their family.

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Sue, who is also the grandmother of 10 children, said: "We adore being surrounded by kids, so I’d love to adopt or foster. We’re not having any more of our own so it’s definitely something we’d think about when ours are older.”

She added that as her older children have grown up and started to fly the nest, she started to miss the family unit.

Sue went on: “When they started to move out, it was hard as a mum and strange not to have them all together.

"I dread the thought of an empty nest but I know it will happen one day. You can’t hold your kids back – when you love them, you have to let them live their dreams.”

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Despite being parents to 22 children, Sue and Noel only originally planned to have three kids. They first fell pregnant in 1989 when Sue was just 14-years-old and welcomed their first child, Chris, now 34-years-old.

"We’re proud to be Britain’s biggest family but we’d only planned on having about three," Sue explained: "We’re addicted to children – but as addictions go, it’s not a bad one because it’s motivated by love. We have plenty to go round."

As well as Chris, Sue and Noel also have; Sophie, 29, Chloe, 28, Jack, 26, Daniel, 24, Luke, 22, Millie, 22, Katie, 20, James, 19, Ellie, 18, Aimee, 17, Josh, 16, Max, 14, Tillie, 13, Oscar, 11, Casper, 10, Hallie, eight, Phoebe, seven, Archie, six, Bonnie, four, and Heidie, three.

In 2014, Sue and Noel tragically lost their son, Alfie, who was stillborn.

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