Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to his adoption case. The Council was at fault as it did not investigate Mr X’s complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure, causing uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and investigate his complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the Council handled his adoption case. Mr X says the Council failed to follow the right procedures and did not make decisions in the best interests of the child. Mr X says this has caused real distress for him and his family.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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(1), as amended)
4. 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

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Children’s statutory complaints process

7. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail.
8. The guidance says adoption-related functions may be subject of a statutory complaint. This includes councils’ duties in respect of a proposed placement of a child with prospective adopters, placement and reviews. (Getting the Best from Complaints section 2.3)
9. The first stage of the procedure is local resolution. Councils have up to 20 working days to respond. If a complainant is not happy with a council’s stage one response, they can ask that it is considered at stage two. At this stage of the procedure, councils appoint an investigator and an independent person who is responsible for overseeing the investigation. Councils have up to 13 weeks to complete stage two of the process from the date of request.
10. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage two investigation, they can ask for a stage three review by an independent panel. The council must hold the panel within 30 days of the date of request and then issue a final response within 20 days of the panel hearing.

What happened

11. The Council supported Mr X and his family with the process of adopting a child, Y. After Mr X submitted an adoption order Y’s mother withdrew her consent for the adoption, and the child was returned to her care.
12. In March 2025 Mr X complained to the Council in relation to how it had handled the process following Y’s mother withdrawing her consent. In his complaint, Mr X highlighted issues he had experienced with professionals who had supported him during the process. Mr X said communication had been poor and he felt ignored.
13. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint under its corporate complaints procedure. Mr X was not happy with the Council’s response and asked it to investigate his complaint further. The Council responded further, again under its corporate complaints procedure. Mr X remained unhappy and referred his complaint to the Ombudsman.

Findings

14. The Council considered Mr X’s complaint under its corporate complaints procedure. As Mr X’s complaint is related to the Council’s adoption-related functions, we would expect the Council to investigate it under the children’s statutory complaints procedure, which would have been in line with guidance. Failure to do so amounts to fault. This would have caused uncertainty for Mr X, which is injustice.

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Action

15. To remedy the injustice identified above, the Council should complete the following actions within one month of the date of this decision:
• Apologise to Mr X for the injustice caused by the failure to investigate his complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Appoint an investigating officer and progress Mr X’s complaint to the second stage of the children’s statutory complaints procedure and write to him with information about the process going forward.
• Issue guidance to relevant officers that complaints about adoption-related functions should follow the children’s statutory complaints procedure.
16. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

17. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman