Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the contact she has with her child. A Court decided Mrs X’s child’s adoption. We could not change that order including the contact she has.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council failed to arrange contact between her and her child, B.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint and the Council’s replies. I considered Mrs X’s responses to a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

Background events

5. Mrs X says, in 2015, a Court granted an Adoption Order for her child, B. She says the order did not state the contact between B and her. She says shortly after the Court order she agreed to letterbox contact only. She says she was not in a healthy place at the time she signed the agreement.
6. Mrs X would like more contact. She would like to be able to send and receive photographs. She would like more information about B’s life and for B to receive information from Mrs X about their heritage.
7. The Council says B’s adopted parents have agreed to birthday and Christmas cards but will not agree to exchanging photographs. The Council says it can achieve no more.
8. The Council held a meeting with Mrs X in early June to explain the situation and the limits on its powers.
9. Mrs X says she wants compensation over £100 000. She believes she has been discriminated against both because of her heritage and because of her health.

Analysis

10. The Court decided the Adoption and not to set out contact. We cannot change this and nor can the Council. Contact can only be as agreed with B’s adopters. The Council cannot force the contact Mrs X wants. We cannot therefore achieve her wish of more contact.
11. The Courts decided the Adoption Order. Any investigation we could do about any injustice cause to Mrs X solely and directly by Council fault would not achieve the compensation Mrs X seeks.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot get Mrs X’s desired outcomes.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman