Adoption and Permanence Manager

Ayesha is a highly skilled social worker who has worked with children for over 30 years and is committed to improving the lives of children through permanence.

Initially starting her career as a nursery nurse, she transferred to a social work assistant position in a busy children’s team in Newcastle in 2001, where she was seconded to undertake a master’s degree in social work at Durham University. Once qualified in 2006 she began a two-year period working within child protection, children in need and looked-after children’s teams. Ayesha then moved to North Tyneside’s adoption team and completed focused work with adopters on concurrency and foster to adopt placements. During her time with the local authority, Ayesha continued her professional development and gained the PQ Specialist Child Care award in 2012.

 Ayesha joined ARC Adoption at its inception in 2014 and has contributed much to the agency's success. She has guided many families through the adoption process as an assessing social worker, and has been instrumental in the development and delivery of preparation training for prospective adoptive parents. Ayesha has represented ARC Adoption within several key working groups alongside professionals from other voluntary and regional adoption agencies, most recently working on a project to develop and promote Early Permanence, as an alternate and child-centric route to adoption. In response to her growing experience, professional development and passion for driving the agency forward, Ayesha was promoted to the role of Adoption and Permanence Manager at ARC in 2024 and also gained a Level 5 Diploma in Health and Social Care and Children and Young People’s Services.

Outside of work, Ayesha is married to Chris and is proud Mam to Will and Mia alongside her fur babies Jade and Bruno.