The purpose of this report is to seek approval from Cabinet to explore the potential of a West Mercia collaboration for the delivery of Adoption Services in Herefordshire.

The overall aim of the project is to develop a single West Mercia Adoption Service which delivers a more efficient and effective service to a wider range of children. The recommendation at this stage is to agree that Herefordshire pursue this, working collaboratively to reach consensus about the best option to deliver the services across the region.

Herefordshire could continue to operate their own Herefordshire Council Adoption Service. The service is currently operating well and delivering good outcomes for children. Its last inspection judged the service to be good with outstanding features. However, this is a very small service with limited opportunity to make efficiency savings due to the scale of the operation. There is a need to develop more innovative approaches for hard to place children which may be more fruitfully pursued regionally.