Values and mission

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.

“May I thank you for visiting our website and whether you are a prospective adopter, making those first steps on your journey towards adoption, or a local authority seeking an agency to work in partnership with, I hope it inspires you to learn more by contacting us today. My very best wishes.” Terry Fitzpatrick (Director at ARC Adoption North East)

Our mission

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.

Our values

ARC Adoption North East operates from the following core values:

• Respect for the individual; child, adult, adopter, customer or member of staff

• Building positive relationships through open & honest communication

• Being open-minded, creative and adventurous

• Encouraging a culture of growth and learning

• Developing a positive ‘team’ spirit

• Strive to do more with less

• Encourage a sense of fun and positivity in all we do

Our service coverage 

Based in Sunderland, England, we predominantly work with prospective adopters across the North East region, from Northumberland, across to Cumbria and down to North Yorkshire. However, if you are from another part of the UK, we may still be able to help you with your adoption journey, so it is worth having a conversation with us and seeing how we can help.

Please note, that we are unable to support prospective adopters that are not domiciled in the UK.