Cambridgeshire County Council (20 003 498)

Statement Upheld Adoption 15-Mar-2021

Summary: Mr and Mrs B have an adopted child. They complained about how the Council dealt with the placement of their adopted child’s birth mother in a mother and baby foster placement close to their home, and the issues arising from this. We find there was fault by the Council causing injustice for which an apology and appropriate financial remedy has been offered. The Council has also implemented service improvements. We find there was some fault in complaint handling, and the Council agreed to our recommendation to take steps to review and act on lessons learned about the framing of complaints.

Birmingham City Council (20 012 610)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 05-Mar-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the support the Council gave his family. The events are more than 12 months old and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

Norfolk County Council (20 003 342)

Statement Not upheld Adoption 04-Mar-2021

Summary: Mr X complained the Council wrongly ended an adoption allowance for his son Y and retrospectively changed the reasons for its decision to try and justify treating Y’s older sibling differently. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to cease Y’s adoption allowance in July 2019.

Durham County Council (20 002 088)

Statement Upheld Adoption 06-Jan-2021

Summary: Mrs B complained that the Council wrongly stopped her and her husband from adopting a child from the Durham area, despite being approved by the Adoption Panel to do so. The Council fully upheld the complaint but failed to offer any remedy for the injustice or properly explain how the situation arose. We found fault in the Council’s actions causing distress and uncertainty to Mr and Mrs B. The Council agreed to pay them £500.

Birmingham City Council (20 000 990)

Statement Upheld Adoption 05-Jan-2021

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has not properly apologised for fault with how the Council dealt with an adoption process. The Council is at fault because it has not completed the actions agreed to in a mediation meeting. Mr X has not received a full apology. The Council has agreed to write a letter of apology to Mr X as detailed in the mediation outcome.

Wiltshire Council (19 021 207)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 04-Jan-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her request to make contact with her daughter, who was adopted. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.

Cambridgeshire County Council (20 007 949)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 03-Dec-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decisions on his children’s care. The Court is deciding this.

Thurrock Council (20 000 005)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 10-Nov-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate the Council’s assessment and decisions on whether Miss X should adopt two children. The Court decided this and we cannot consider the same decision.

Royal Borough of Greenwich (20 001 124)

Statement Upheld Adoption 29-Oct-2020

Summary: The Council was at fault for delaying the progression of Mr C’s complaint to stage 2 of the statutory complaint’s procedure. However, it has apologised and is now progressing the complaint.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (20 003 695)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 28-Oct-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about children services actions. Either the complaints have been previously considered and decided by us, or they are too old and there are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply.