Durham County Council (24 002 292)
Category : Children's care services > Adoption
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 May 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X complaint about a decision to allow an adoption because the Court made the decision.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council’s should have allowed him to appeal a Court decision that his child should be adopted.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X has provided a Court of Appeal decision from April 2024. The Court of Appeal refused Mr X permission to appeal an earlier Court decision allowing his child’s adoption.
- We cannot investigate the Council’s role in this, including any information it gave the Court or its views.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate issues which a Court decided.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman