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.

London Borough of Bromley (19 009 122)

Statement Upheld Adoption 20-Oct-2020

Summary: Ms B complains about the Council’s decision not to progress an application she made to become an adoptive parent. We uphold the complaint finding several faults in the Council’s process of decision making. These caused Ms B injustice as distress as the decision reached by the Council cannot be relied on as a result. At the end of this statement we set out action the Council has agreed to take to remedy that injustice.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (19 012 059)

Statement Upheld Adoption 13-Oct-2020

Summary: Mr B complains the Council failed to apply to renew an injunction to prevent the birth family of his wife’s adopted daughter contacting her. He says that as a result the birth family were in touch with her and had a detrimental impact on her well-being, behaviour and education. He said the contact from the birth family also caused significant distress to the rest of the family. There was fault by the Council that caused injustice to Mr B. The Council will make a payment to Mr B.

Portsmouth City Council (19 020 046)

Statement Not upheld Adoption 12-Oct-2020

Summary: Mr X complains that the Council unreasonably stopped financial support for his adopted son in breach of a previous agreement and failed to respond adequately to his complaints. He also complains about comments made by Council staff. The complaint about the breach of the previous agreement has been made too late and there are no good reasons to investigate now. There is see no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to cease financial support or in the comments complained of.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (20 002 424)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 06-Oct-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council failed to provide her with the documents it holds about her family. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed.

Nottingham City Council (19 013 789)

Statement Upheld Adoption 30-Sep-2020

Summary: Mr Y and Mrs Z complain about the lack of financial support provided by the Council following the adoption of their daughter, whom I will call J. They also complain about the way the Council handled their complaint. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for wrongly stating that Mr Y and Mrs Z were eligible for adoption allowance payments, thus raising their expectations. The Council also delayed in sharing relevant information and documents with Mr Y and Mrs Z after their adoption of J. The Council will apologise and pay £200 for the time, trouble and worry caused by the fault.

City of York Council (20 002 636)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 30-Sep-2020

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement between 2012 and 2018. We will not investigate this late complaint, because there is not a good reason Mrs X did not complain to us sooner, providing the necessary consent. We have also already considered parts of the complaint, and other parts relate to court proceedings which the law does not allow us to consider.

Telford & Wrekin Council (19 009 491)

Statement Upheld Adoption 25-Sep-2020

Summary: The complainant alleges that the Council misled him and his wife about the possibility of future medical difficulties for a child, whom they had expressed an interest in adopting, prior to them agreeing the placement. The child was subsequently diagnosed with significant difficulties. The Ombudsman agreed to accept the complaint even though the Council had not considered the complaint at the final stage of the statutory complaint procedure. The Ombudsman finds fault causing injustice in the way the Council has managed the adoption and complaint processes. The Council has agreed the Ombudsman’s findings and recommendations and therefore we are closing the complaint.

Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council (19 020 927)

Statement Not upheld Adoption 28-Aug-2020

Summary: it is too early for the Ombudsman to consider Ms M’s complaint about financial support for her adopted son. The Council has agreed to consider Ms M’s complaint under the formal procedure set out in law for children’s complaints. We have also advised Ms M to complain to the Council for the area where she lives. Both Councils have a duty to cooperate to respond to her complaint. If she remains dissatisfied once both Councils have completed the three-stage complaints process, Ms M can complain to the Ombudsman again.

Norfolk County Council (20 000 849)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Adoption 30-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mr and Mrs J’s complaint about comments made by a social worker during a telephone call to them. It is unlikely we would find evidence of administrative fault, and the injustice arising from comments made during a private telephone call is not so great that it justifies our involvement.