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Sue Wright, who passed away at the age of 57, dedicated her life to championing fostering and adoption, alongside her career as a child protection barrister and her later achievements in business. Her commitment to vulnerable children was deeply personal and professional, reflecting a lifelong passion for advocacy and support.
Sue’s early years were marked by hardship. At 16, she entered foster care, but the placement proved unsuccessful. By 17, she was living in a Salvation Army residence with a peer and surviving on a weekly allowance of £40. Between 1982 and 1984, Sue took on part-time roles cooking and cleaning at a nursing home in Southport, owned by Mrs Smythe, who warmly welcomed her with the phrase, “There’s always more room at the table.” This phrase later inspired Sue’s speeches promoting the need for more foster carers and adopters.
Born in Liverpool to Ann, a local council employee, and John, who worked in logistics, Sue attended Stanley High School in Southport. Despite leaving school without qualifications, she was resolute in her goal of becoming a barrister to give voice to the voiceless. To achieve this, she put herself through college and night school, earning O-levels and completing a BTec in business studies and finance while still employed by Mrs Smythe. She then studied law at Preston Polytechnic, now known as the University of Central Lancashire, during the late 1980s.
In the early 1990s, Sue moved to London, juggling bar exams with a job at Lehman Brothers—a role her employer mistakenly thought related to beauty colleges. By the late 1990s, she returned to Merseyside, where over 16 years she fostered seven children for Liverpool City Council. Initially, she balanced fostering with her full-time child protection barrister work, and later transitioned to running her own company, the Harrogate Group, a property finance and advisory business founded in 2021.
Sue became recognized as one of Northern England’s foremost advocates. Her willingness to help extended beyond people to animals, actively supporting rescue charities such as Manchester Dogs Home. She played a key role in raising £2.2 million to rebuild their premises following an arson attack in 2014. Just four months before her death from cancer, Sue received a special commendation at the 2025 Women of the Year awards for her tireless work with children and families. She also campaigned for annual blood tests to be routinely available on the NHS, believing this could have led to earlier diagnosis and might have saved her life.
Sue leaves behind her partner, Faisal Arif; her daughter Sonia, from her marriage to footballer Mark Wright; her other children Ruth, Keira, Cory, and Miley; her granddaughter Delilah; and her sibling. Her remarkable life remains a testament to resilience, advocacy, and compassion
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