Terry has worked in the field of children’s social care for over 38 years. He began his career in the Voluntary Sector, working for the then Catholic Rescue Society as a residential child care officer, before moving to work within a local authority setting in 1983.

For several years he again worked in a residential setting, helping to manage a “fostering preparation unit”, as a qualified social worker, he was enlisted to conduct fostering and adoption assessments too and so the passion for family placement work began.

From 1989 until 2013 Terry managed family placement services for the council and specifically managed the adoption service there for over 24 years. In that time Terry helped steer the service through successive outstanding inspection results and established the service as one of the best performing in the country.

He has built up an expertise in early permanence planning and has routinely been enlisted to support other adoption agencies as they strive to develop fostering for adoption and concurrent placements.

As Director of ARC Adoption Terry’s career has come full circle with a return to the Voluntary Sector. It is now Terry’s hope that he and the team at ARC Adoption can use their skills to make a major contribution to children’s lives on a national level.

Outside of work Terry is a Vice Chair of governors for a local school, acts as a child protection representative for the Catholic Diocese and is chair of a parish council. He is married to Lesley, has a son John, and grandson Oliver, who alongside Sunderland Football Club and two Golden Retrievers called Sadie and Tara, is his pride and joy.

Connect with Terry https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-fitzpatrick-116155100/

ARC Adoption North East is an Outstanding Independent Voluntary Adoption Agency located in the North East of England.

For all of us in our Sunderland based team, it is a privilege to work in the field of adoption. We use our extensive knowledge and skills to increase the opportunities for children to experience a positive family life. As a prospective adopter, we will take you through the process and help you feel valued and supported. Registered and rated Outstanding by Ofsted, we work in partnership with Local Authorities and Regional Adoption Agencies to help them deliver high quality services to some of the most vulnerable children in their care.

We are fortunate to have a dedicated team of experienced, multi-disciplinary, practitioners here at ARC Adoption who help us deliver a wide range of services aimed at supporting adopted children and their families to feel secure. This has enabled us to be one of the most successful agencies in our region for recruiting families and placing children.

Through our memberships of The Northern Consortium of Adoption Agencies; CoramBAAF Adoption and Fostering Academy; the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA); New Family Social and Adoption UK, we make a major contribution to the adoption process nationally and to seek continuous improvement in all that we do.

ARC Adoption North East believes that every child deserves the right to grow up in a nurturing and loving family who will support them through childhood and prepare them for adult life.

Our primary mission is to increase the number of nurturing, loving adoptive families available to the many vulnerable children in our society who are unable to live within their birth families.

We aim to recruit at least 40 families per year in order to offer a range of placement opportunities to local authorities who are unable to find adopters to meet the individual needs of the children in their care. We intend to increase the number of ‘foster to adopt’ placements available in order to minimise placement moves for children, thereby improving their attachment experience; increase the number of adopters able to consider a ‘concurrent’ placement supporting best outcomes for individual children and increase the number of adoptive families able to consider sibling placements.

https://www.arcadoptionne.org.uk/

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Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.