Summary: Mr B says the Council failed to process a request for life story work and information about his daughter’s birth parents. The Council delayed taking action and failed to properly consider the regulations and statutory guidance. An apology, payment to Mr B and his daughter and arranging a meeting to discuss who will take forward the life story work is satisfactory remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complained the Council:
• failed to process a request for life story work and information about his daughter’s birth parents;
• failed to respond to his communications chasing a response.
2. Mr B says the Council’s failures have exacerbated his daughter’s depression and anxiety.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a Council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

7. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Mr B's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
8. Mr B and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

9. Regulation 4 of the Adoption Support Services Regulations 2005 (the regulations) lists those to whom the provision of adoption support services must be extended. That includes children who have been adopted.
10. Regulation 7 says section 4 applies to a local authority that has placed a child for adoption where that child is outside the authority’s area. It says section 4 ceases to apply at the end of three years from the date of the adoption order except for any financial support provided by the local authority where the decision to provide that support was made before the adoption. It makes clear though this does not prevent a local authority from providing adoption support services to those outside their area where they consider it appropriate to do so.
11. Statutory guidance on adoption for local authorities, voluntary adoption agencies and adoption support agencies was issued in July 2013 (the statutory guidance). Paragraph 9.21 says for contact arrangements agreed before the adoption order, the placing authority should continue to be responsible for managing and supporting the arrangements irrespective of where the adoptive family lives, as well as for any changes to those arrangements over time.
12. Paragraph 9.22 of the statutory guidance says where the three-year period following the making of the adoption order has expired, the local authority where the adoptive family lives will have the responsibility for assessing and providing adoption support services.
13. In March 2016, the Government issued a paper: Adoption - A Vision for Change. It considered the current system too fragmented and therefore it planned for councils to become part of a Regionalised Adoption Agency (RAA). This is where councils merge to provide adoption services. The purpose behind RAAs is to speed up matching, improve adopter recruitment and support, reduce costs and improve the life chances of some of the most vulnerable children.

What happened

14. Mr B has an adopted daughter. Mr B lives in an area covered by the adoption partnership south-east (ASPE). The Council is one of three councils which are part of ASPE. One of the other councils is the London Borough for the area where Mr B lives (the home authority). Mr B adopted his daughter from a different London Borough (the placing authority).
15. On 1 February 2023 child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) contacted the Council about increased contact with Mr B’s daughter’s birth family and life story work.
16. The Council arranged a professional consultation which took place on 17 February. At the meeting those present agreed to contact the placing authority. The Council told Mr B and said it would arrange further dates to plan any additional life story work. The Council then contacted the placing authority and asked for a copy of Mr B’s daughter’s adoption paperwork and details of the contact plan and birth family. The placing authority provided some information to the Council on 17 March.
17. Mr B’s wife chased the Council on 19 May and 1 June. The Council responded on 9 June and apologised for the delay. The Council passed on the information the placing authority had given it on 17 March. The Council also contacted the placing authority to ask whether it could try to contact the birth mother.
18. Mr B contacted the Council again on 11 June to raise concerns about the delay and ask further questions. As he had not received a response Mr B put in a complaint on 23 July.
19. The Council spoke to the placing authority on 7 August.
20. The Council wrote to Mr B on 14 August to respond to the complaint. The Council said the adoption support team did not have a role to play as Mr B’s daughter received support from a social worker and CAMHS. The Council said the placing authority held his daughter’s adoption records and remained responsible for managing contact and liaising with the birth family. The Council said it had tried to get information from the placing authority but it had received a limited and incomplete response.
21. Mr B asked the Council to take his complaint to the next stage. When responding to the complaint on 18 September the Council noted a social worker from Mr B’s home authority was holding monthly meetings to review the support needs of the family and APSE would attend those meetings.
22. At a child in need meeting on 20 September Mr B raised concerns about the lack of support with his daughter’s life story. Mr B asked the Council to arrange some planning around that.
23. At a team around the child meeting on 8 December 2023 the participants discussed the option of the social worker from the home authority completing the life story work.

Analysis

24. Mr B says the Council failed to process a request for life story work for his adopted daughter and failed to provide information about her birth parents when requested. Mr B says this issue has been going on for many years. I am not exercising the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate before February 2023. That is because I see no reason why Mr B could not have complained to the Ombudsman at the time if he had concerns. I am investigating the period from February 2023 as this is the point at which CAMHS contacted the Council about life story work.
25. In this case Mr B, his wife and their adoptive daughter live in an area which is covered by the adoption partnership south-east (ASPE). That is the relevant regional adoption agency which incorporates three areas in London. However, when Mr B adopted his daughter the adoption was arranged by a different London Borough (the placing authority) which does not fall within ASPE. The Council’s view is that it is the placing authority which arranged the adoption which retains responsibility for carrying out life story work with Mr B’s daughter and for providing her with information about her birth parents.
26. The Council is relying here on section 9.21 of the statutory guidance which it says records the placing authority is the one responsible for managing and supporting adoption arrangements. However, I am satisfied section 9.21 of the statutory guidance relates to contact arrangements agreed before the adoption order and any changes to those contact arrangements rather than issues relating to life story work. I am therefore not satisfied paragraph 9.21 relates to anything other than the contact arrangements in place before the adoption order was agreed or changes to those arrangements. The referral the Council received in February 2023 was not only concerned about contact arrangements but also about life story work.
27. In addition, paragraph 9.22 of the statutory guidance makes clear once it is more than three years from the date of the adoption order it is the local authority where the adoptive family lives which is responsible for assessing and providing adoption support services. At the end of the three-year period only the financial support provided to adoptive families continues with the placing authority. I am therefore not satisfied the Council has properly considered the regulations and statutory guidance when deciding the responsibility for life story work falls to the placing authority.
28. I am also concerned the Council delayed dealing with the request for support with life story work. I am satisfied the Council knew about the request for support in February 2023. However, despite the fact the Council received information from the placing authority in March 2023 there is no evidence the Council shared that with Mr B until June 2023 after his wife chased the Council twice. Delay dealing with the case and failure to respond to Mr B and his wife’s communications is fault.
29. I also note that despite saying it believes the life story work is the responsibility of the placing authority the notes from the team around the child meeting in December 2023 record otherwise. In that meeting there is a suggestion the life story work would take place with a social worker from the home authority, rather than with the placing authority. That contradicts the Council’s stated view, although it is more in line with the regulations and statutory guidance.
30. In any event, if the Council considered the placing authority responsible for the life story work I would have expected it to ask that authority to carry out the life story work when it made contact in February 2023. However, the Council did not do that. Instead, the Council only asked the placing authority for further information about the birth family. I am therefore not satisfied the Council properly understood what role it had in this case and how it should proceed.
31. As a result of the failures in this case Mr B’s daughter is left with having had no life story work completed more than 12 months after the request was received. Mr B has also been caused distress and has had to go to time and trouble to pursue his complaint. As remedy for the complaint I recommended the Council apologise to Mr B and his daughter and pay them £200 each. The Council should also arrange a meeting with the placing authority and the home authority to discuss how the life story work and queries about the birth parents will be taken forward. The Council should then tell Mr B who will take responsibility for that work. The Council has agreed to my recommendations.

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Agreed action

32. Within one month of my decision the Council should:
• apologise to Mr B and his daughter for the distress they experienced due to the faults identified in this decision. The Council may want to refer to the Ombudsman’s updated guidance on remedies, which sets out the standards we expect apologies to meet;
• pay Mr B and his daughter £200 each; and
• arrange a meeting with the placing authority and the home authority to discuss who will take forward the life story work and queries about the birth parents. The Council should then tell Mr B who will take responsibility for that work.

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Final decision

33. I have completed my investigation and uphold the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman