The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the complainants’ children being removed from their care and later put up for adoption. This is because the matter has been considered and decided in court proceedings. The complaint is also made late.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council removed her children from her care for no valid reason and made inaccurate claims about her in court. Miss X says her children are now due to be adopted.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council wrongfully removed her children from her care and that they have since been put up for adoption. This is because these matters have been considered and decided in court which places them outside of our jurisdiction.
Even if there were things about the Council’s actions that led to court proceedings that we could separate from the proceedings themselves we would not investigate them. This is because these events occurred too long ago. Miss X made a complaint in December 2020 and the Council responded at stage one of its complaints process in March 2021. I see no good reason why Miss X could not have escalated her complaint through the Council’s complaints process and to us sooner.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the matter has been considered and decided in court and the complaint is made late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman