Two years ago, Warrington, Wigan and St. Helens councils merged to form WWiSH - the country's first shared adoption service. With limited resources and a growing list of children in need of a loving family, the three local authorities decided to pool their resources and expertise together to give children a better chance of finding their ‘forever families'.

The idea worked. In its first year the service exceeded the target number of adopter enquiries by 113.2%, increased the number of approved adopters by 42.9% and found 35 ‘forever families' for 58 children – equating to a saving of £480,000.