The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: The complainant, a foster carer, alleged that the Council wrongly removed her son from her care and has failed over a prolonged period to consider properly her status as a foster carer. The Council has investigated the complaint and found fault in the way it dealt with alleged child protection concerns. The Council has agreed to refer the complainant to its Fostering Panel for it to consider whether she should continue to be registered as a foster carer. We have decided to discontinue our investigation until the Fostering Panel’s recommendation and the Council’s decision are known. Once this happens, we will consider the complaint in its totality.
The complaint
The complainant, a foster carer, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complained the Council wrongly removed her son, C, from her care and placed him with his father. C was subsequently returned to her care. In addition, the Council has not dealt properly with her fostering status, telling her she should resign but which Mrs X is unwilling to do. Mrs X says that she cannot apply for any employment where an enhanced check is required because her fostering status remains undecided. Mrs X says that C was caused emotional harm, was unwilling to go out or see his father. She was caused avoidable distress.
A foster child, B, was also caused harm because he was removed from Mrs X’s home in an unplanned way. Mrs X also says that C and B had had a close relationship and were adversely affected by not being allowed to have continued contact.
The Council has investigated the complaint under the Children Act 1989 three stage statutory complaint process, and upheld most aspects. The complaint has been referred to the Ombudsman as an early referral, meaning that the Council has upheld the complaint at stage two, and with the complainant’s agreement, has referred the complaint to us rather than it being considered by a Complaints Review Panel (the third stage of the statutory complaints process).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by maladministration and service failure. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction.
Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.
How I considered this complaint
I made enquiries of the Council and I have spoken to Mrs X. Normally, where there has been a thorough investigation under the statutory process, the Ombudsman will not normally reinvestigate. In these circumstances, we will consider what injustice has been caused and how best to remedy this.
What I found
The Council has upheld Mrs X’s complaints that it did not manage a child protection referral properly which resulted in C being wrongly removed from Mrs X’s care and placed with his father. C subsequently returned to Mrs X’s care.
The main complaints were as follows: Social workers (SWs) acted without consideration for C’s (then 14 years old) wishes and feelings, and failed to follow internal child protection procedures, instructing and helping the child’s father to remove him from school during a lesson against his wishes. C’s father then took him to stay with an aunt, who he barely knew, because the father was homeless. The SWs also failed to make a note of their visit to the complainant’s home; SWs removed the child’s clothes and belongings from the complainant’s home against his wishes and instructed the complainant not to speak to her son and the Head of his school was told to remove his mobile telephone; SWs failed to tell the neighbouring council’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in the area Mrs X lives until the complainant contacted them; the Council failed to provide factually correct answers in response to the complainant’s complaint; following Mrs X’s initial complaint, the Council failed to apologise or tell the complainant of any changes to prevent this happening again to someone else and it failed to provide the child with any explanation; Mrs X was treated unfairly and felt ‘bullied’ by staff when pointing out the errors made by the Council; and the Council delayed dealing with her complaint.
Mrs X considers that the Council has failed to recognise the avoidable harm and distress caused by these faults and it has not provided an adequate remedy. In addition, the Council has not placed any further foster children with her, telling Mrs X to resign, which she does not wish to do. Therefore, Mrs X has missed out on fostering payments, and says she cannot apply for any other caring jobs, while her fostering status remains undecided.
Agreed action
One of the key outstanding issues in this case is Mrs X’s fostering status. I accept that, until she has a clear recommendation from the Council’s Fostering Panel, about whether she can continue to foster, or not, Mrs X remains in limbo. I can also see that Mrs X will have difficulty in applying for other employment, working with young people or vulnerable adults, while her fostering status is undecided. Accordingly, I suggested to the Council that it now arranges a Fostering Panel to consider Mrs X’s fostering status. The Council has agreed to do this.
Until the Fostering Panel has made its recommendation, and the Council has either accepted it or not, it is not possible to fully assess the injustice caused to Mrs X by the accepted faults and by the Council’s delay in resolving Mrs X’s fostering status. My view is that I should discontinue this investigation until Mrs X’s fostering status is known.
Once the Council’s decision is known, we can fully assess the injustice caused to Mrs X and to C by the faults identified, and whether Mrs X has been disadvantaged by not having a clear decision on her fostering status much sooner.
Final decision
I am discontinuing this investigation while the Council considers Mrs X’s fostering status. Once Mrs X’s fostering status has been fully decided, the complaint can be referred back to the Ombudsman, and I will consider Mrs X’s complaint in its totality.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman