Summary: The complainants allege the Council wrongly removed two foster children from their care who they had told the Council they wished to adopt.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the injustice to Mr and Mrs X and to Child B and Child C, the Council should within three months from the date of this report:

• apologise in writing to Mr and Mrs X for the faults which we have identified;
• consider issuing a qualifying determination stating the Council’s reasons for not approving Mr and Mrs X as prospective adopters so that they can challenge this through the Independent Review Mechanism;
• pay Mr and Mrs X £5,000 for their avoidable distress. This is more than we might normally recommend for avoidable distress. But we are satisfied that the Council’s faults caused a significant injustice and there is nothing we can recommend which can make up for the loss of a family life which Mr and Mrs X had so wanted;
• pay Mr and Mrs X £500 for their time and trouble in pursuing the complaint. This is more than we might recommend because they had to go to some length to have their complaints considered properly;
• place a copy of this report on Mr and Mrs X’s foster/adoption files so that, if they apply to another adoption agency, the new agency will have access to the information in this report;
• in recognition of the potential harm to the children by the Council’s actions, it should set aside £2,000 for each child in a savings account for when older;
• place a copy of this report on Child B and Child C’s social care files so that, when older and, if the children request access to their files, they can see the efforts which Mr and Mrs X made to pursue their concerns about the children’s removal in addition to their clear wish for the children to have remained with them long term. While the Council has parental responsibility for the children, it will be for it to decide about when and what parts of the report the children can see. But these decisions must be made in conjunction with the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO);
• ensure that IROs are, in future, actively involved and consulted when there is to be a significant change to a looked after child’s care plan and ensure that social work staff follow the requirements to hold a ‘looked after’ child review when making significant decisions unless there is a safeguarding issue requiring immediate removal of a child;
• report back on the Council’s review of its foster care procedures and its training. 

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 21 November 2019.

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