Summary: Mr and Mrs B complain about the Council’s actions when they approached it to adopt a child. Mr and Mrs B say this caused them significant distress and financial loss. The Council has accepted fault and offered a remedy. Mr and Mrs B are unhappy with the remedy. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council. The Council agrees to reimburse Mr and Mrs B’s costs, make a payment for avoidable distress and review its fostering and adoption policy.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs B complain about the Council’s actions when they approached it to adopt a child, C. The Council has accepted fault and offered a remedy. Mr and Mrs B are unhappy with the remedy.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
4. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered:
• Mr and Mrs B’s complaint and the information they provided;
• documents supplied by the Council;
• relevant legislation and guidelines;
• the Council’s policies and procedures; and
• the Council and Mr and Mrs B commented on a draft decision.

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What I found

6. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
7. In June 2018, Mrs B emailed the Council. Mrs B said her and her husband would like to be considered as adopters for C. Mr and Mrs B are relatives of C. C was living in foster care.
8. In July 2018, Council records say C’s social worker completed a viability assessment for Mr and Mrs B. However, the copy provided by the Council is dated September 2018. There are no records of this meeting.
9. In August 2018, C’s social worker and a fostering social worker met with Mrs and Mr B to discuss the care of C and to start a family and friends fostering assessment. Mr and Mrs B said they would like to adopt C. The social workers advised Mr and Mrs B to foster to adopt so C could live with them sooner. Mr and Mrs B agreed. However, a foster to adopt assessment was not undertaken. The Council continued with the family and friends fostering assessment.
10. Mrs B says the social workers told them C could be placed with them that month. The social workers told Mr and Mrs B about documents and equipment they would need and adaptations they would have to make to their home. The fostering social worker’s view of this meeting was that C’s social worker suggested that pending a legal planning meeting and the result of the fostering assessment, a plan would be made to transition of C into their care.
11. Following this meeting, the fostering social worker emailed Mr and Mrs B and listed changes they needed to make to their home and items they needed to buy to meet fostering standards. The fostering social worker commented, ‘the following are required to help ensure C’s safety in your care’. The fostering social worker told Mr and Mrs B the Children’s Social Care department could support them to buy the equipment and furniture needed. The fostering social worker asked Mr and Mrs B to contact her when they had met the requirements.
12. Mrs B emailed C’s social worker to say the fostering social worker had said they had been accepted to care for C. Mrs B said the fostering social worker had told her to speak to her about financial support to buy items for C.
13. C’s social worker emailed the fostering social worker about the email sent by Mrs B. In the email, C’s social worker said, ‘Mrs B states she has had confirmation from yourself that the couple have been ‘accepted’ to care for C.’ The fostering social worker emailed C’s social worker and suggested Mr and Mrs B had ‘gotten a little bit ahead of themselves’. The fostering social worker shared that Mrs B wanted an update because she would like to tell her employer of the plan. The fostering social worker said she had advised Mrs B that ‘it should be fine’ for her to start preparing their spare room for C.
14. C’s social worker left to take a planned extended period of leave. There is no evidence the Council told Mr and Mrs B about this. It was a month before C’s new social worker responded to Mr and Mrs B’s requests for an update.
15. Mr and Mrs B started to prepare to look after C. They decorated a room for her, altered their home and told their relatives.
16. Mrs B emailed the Council to say she had been unable to get in touch with C’s children’s social worker. This message was forwarded to the fostering social worker because C’s social worker was not available. There is no evidence the Council replied to Mrs B.
17. The fostering social worker emailed C’s social worker’s team manager. The fostering social worker advised the team manager that C’s social worker’s part of Mr and Mrs B’s family and friends fostering assessment was outstanding. The fostering social worker commented that Mr and Mrs B ‘are aware that I will be making a positive recommendation and have been proactive in preparing their home for C in the meantime’.
18. In September 2018, the Council assigned a new social worker to C.
19. Mrs B emailed C’s new social worker asking for an update. Mrs B explained they wanted to adopt C but were told by the previous social worker that C could live with them sooner if they fostered to adopt.
20. C’s social worker visited Mr and Mrs B. Mr and Mrs B told the children’s social worker they were confused about the process. They explained social workers who visited them in August 2018 told them to apply to foster to adopt as this would be quicker. Mr and Mrs B said they thought they had been through the assessment, had been approved to care for C and it was just a matter of time before C would live with them. Mrs B explained that she had arranged adoption leave with her employer. C’s social worker told them she understood permanency for C had not been agreed and that she would check with her manager and get back to them about this. C’s social worker advised Mr and Mrs B the Council would pay for them to get legal advice.
21. The following day C’s social worker sent Mr and Mrs B an email and wrote, ‘I will also speak to our legal department about the plan which was to place C with you.’ Mrs B replied to C’s social worker asking whether foster to adopt was happening or if they had been misadvised.
22. C’s social worker replied to Mr and Mrs B. She said there would be a court case in October 2018 to discuss the long-term plan for C. Mr and Mrs B say this was the first time the Council told them the case needed to go to court; 9 working days before the hearing. C’s social worker told Mr and Mrs B to get legal advice and said the Council would pay £250 towards legal fees, ‘to support you both in making a decision about the long-term care needs of C in deciding if you are able to offer permanency for C throughout her childhood.’ C’s social worker told Mrs B a manager would contact to discuss concerns about the advice she had been given to adapt her home.
23. C’s social worker emailed Mr and Mrs B and told them the Council was going to court to seek an interim care order for C. C’s social worker explained an interim care order would allow the Council to share parental responsibility with C’s mother.
24. The Council completed its viability assessment of Mr and Mrs B. The viability assessment recommended Mr and Mrs B as potential carers for C.
25. Mr and Mrs B sought legal advice. The solicitor told them the court case was to seek a special guardianship order. Mr and Mrs B wanted to adopt C, not to become her special guardian, and they withdrew from proceedings.
26. In October 2018, Mr and Mrs B complained to the Council about:
• Social workers giving them wrong information about adoption;
• The Council not listening to them when they said they were only interested in adoption;
• Social workers leading them to believe C would be placed with them and this would happen quickly;
• Poor communication; and
• Confusion about the legal support the Council would provide.
27. A team manager and C’s social worker met with Mr and Mrs B to discuss their complaint. Mr and Mrs B said because they were told they could not adopt C and they had lost confidence in the Council, they were withdrawing from the process. The team manager challenged Mr and Mrs B’s account of what the social worker had told them in the meeting in July 2018. The Council have been unable to provide a record of this meeting and the social worker involved went on long-term leave in mid-August 2018. It is unclear what evidence the team manager had to support her claims. Mr B told the manager he was being honest about what happened. Mr and Mrs B were distressed by the meeting.
28. The following day, Mr and Mrs B emailed the complaints team to say they were upset by the visit because the team manager had challenged their account of what had happened. Mr and Mrs B said they found the team manager insensitive and rude. Mr and Mrs B said the meeting was intimidating and asked for all future correspondence to be by email. Mr and Mrs B also said they felt the team manager was trying to shift the blame from her team to the family and friends fostering team.
29. In November 2018, the Council responded to Mr and Mrs B’s complaint. The Council recognised there was a lack of clarity between C’s social worker and the fostering social worker. The Council accepted because of this, Mr and Mrs B could have been under the impression that C would definitely live with them. The Council reflected that it would have been better if workers had been clearer about C’s care plan and the likelihood of C being placed with Mr and Mrs B. The Council also accepted it had told Mrs B she could prepare their spare room for C.
30. The Council offered Mr and Mrs B £1000 as a “goodwill gesture”.

Analysis

31. The Council did not explain the process of care planning, the likelihood of C being placed with them or the purpose of the fostering assessment clearly. Mr and Mrs B believed the Council was assessing them to foster to adopt. However, the Council were assessing them as family and friends foster carers. This is despite, Mr and Mrs B clearly stating they wanted to adopt C.
32. Mr and Mrs B contacted the Council more than once to raise concerns about the process and make their position clear; see paragraphs 8, 10, 13, 20 and 21. These were opportunities for the Council to manage their expectations and correct any misunderstandings. The Council did not take these opportunities to explain the process.
33. The children’s team and the family and friend fostering teams did not work together effectively and this contributed to Mr and Mrs B being given mixed messages about the long-term care of C.
34. The Council is at fault for not explaining the foster to adopt and the family and friends fostering options clearly to Mr and Mrs B. It is also at fault for not correcting their belief that C would definitely be placed with them. The outcome of these failures was that Mr and Mrs B believed they would be able to adopt C and prepared for this. Mr and Mrs B spent money on adapting their home and buying equipment. They also invested emotionally.
35. Further to this, the lack of working together between the two Council departments hindered the complaints process and caused Mr and Mrs B further distress.
36. The £1000 “goodwill gesture” offered by the Council covers the money Mr and Mrs B spent preparing for C to come and live with them. It does not remedy the avoidable distress Mr and Mrs B experienced because of the Council’s faults. Mr and Mrs B believed C would live with them. The Council knew this, had opportunities to correct their misunderstanding but did not.

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Agreed actions

37. Within one month, the Council should:
• Reimburse Mr and Mrs B £1000 to cover the cost of decorating C’s room, buying equipment and adjusting their home in preparation for C, and getting legal advice.
• Pay Mr and Mrs B £1000 for the avoidable distress caused by the Council’s faults.
38. Within two months, the Council should:
• Review its fostering and adoption policies and procedures to make sure the information given to potential foster carers and adopters is clear and accurate.
• Provide complaint management training to team managers involved in this case.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mr and Mrs B’s complaint. Mr and Mrs B have been caused an injustice by the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman