Director

Terry has worked in the field of children’s social care for over 40 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 and a vision of using his experience, along with that of the ARC Adoption team, to make a major contribution to children’s lives. That contribution has since been formally recognised, with Terry awarded an OBE at a ceremony at Windsor Castle in early 2022, acknowledging his life's work in children's social care in the North East of England, and the innovation and development of ARCBOX, our digital life story tool. 

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 two grandson's, Oliver and Thomas, who alongside Sunderland Football Club and Golden Retriever, Sadie, are his pride and joy.