Known amongst her local church community as ‘the lady with all the children, who makes lovely cakes’ and presented with a car sticker proclaiming ‘World’s Greatest Mum’ by her family, Susan Dale (48) of Prestwich, Manchester, has now won the Tower FM 2007 Carer of the Year award, sponsored by Northwest fostering agency, Perpetual Fostering. She was nominated by her daughter, Victoria (27), for her tireless work in fostering around eighteen children and young people over the past seven years, whilst still managing to find time for her five grandchildren and daytime childminding duties, which she shares with son Craig (30).

“Susan epitomises the qualities of a successful foster carer and her family provides the quality of support that makes such arrangements really work,” says André Fallows, Perpetual’s Director of Customer Relations, who presented her with the award and helped judge the entries. “At a time when there is a shortage of at least 8,000 carers nationally and a disproportionate shortfall in the North West, she provides a model for others to emulate and consider the possibility of fostering. She undoubtedly works hard, but clearly she enjoys her caring role and is making a very worthwhile contribution to many young lives. She demonstrates that fostering can be fun.”

Susan, who is divorced, would be the first to concede that her home, a former council semi on a pleasant inner city estate, is modest and currently undergoing disruptive renovation, but the house resonates with the cheerfulness and chatter of happy youngsters. Apart from her current long-term foster children, whom we shall call Jacky (12) and Jo (16), Susan regularly cares for her grandchildren, Liam (11), Corey (10), Emma (10), Holly (9) and Ben (3), as well as minding youngsters from 11 months to 11 years, to help make financial ends meet.

As daughter Victoria wrote in her nomination, ‘she would rather spend her spare money on the children, than on doing up the house’ and there is no shortage of treats and outings for all the kids, with Halloween trick or treating, trips to the local megabowl, swimming pool and movies, and longer jaunts to the likes of Gulliver’s World and Blackpool always on the agenda. “I love it here,” exclaims Jacky, emphasising just how completely youngsters in care can be integrated into the warmth of the family. Nor is it just the immediate family, since Susan’s eight brothers and sisters live nearby, as does her disabled mother, who she looks after too, wouldn’t you know, since her siblings all have full-time jobs.

Susan, who is a foster carer with Bury MBC and underwent the initial training programme with son Craig, first considered the possibility of looking after disadvantaged youngsters, after working as a cook at a hostel for the homeless. A number of teenagers passed through the system and she recognised some of the problems and issues encountered by her own children, albeit on a more extreme scale, and felt she could give something back to young people needing comfort and help. Having undergone a thorough assessment programme, which also involved members of her family, she was first assigned short-term and respite arrangements, providing relief cover for other carers, then progressed to long-term fostering, extending from several months to three or more years, as in the present situation.

“Applications and assessments usually take around six months,” says Perpetual’s André Fallows, “but fostering can be quite challenging at times and you do need to carry out the necessary checks and provide prospective carers with the skills needed to foster successfully. It sounds daunting, but the agency holds your hand throughout the process, then a supervisory social worker will provide guidance and support for the approved foster carer over the ensuing years.”

When asked what qualities are required of a good foster carer, Susan’s young charges themselves volunteer ‘a big heart’ and ‘a good listener’, while the award winner herself adds ‘patience’ and the willingness to devote sufficient time to the role, not unlike many ordinary parents in fact. Having fostered youngsters of all ages, she actually prefers caring for teenagers – “there’s such a lot you can give,” she says – and, these days, Susan even has Jacky and Jo’s two brothers and older sister over  to stay at weekends, adding to an already bustling household. To those who might consider following in her footsteps and becoming a foster carer, Susan says simply, yet earnestly, “Give it a go!”

Prospective carers should apply initially to Perpetual Fostering, 31 Chorley New Road, Bolton BL1 4QR, tel 01204 364 666, email info@perpetualfostering.co.uk