The complaint

2. Miss X complains that the Council failed to inform her about the breakdown of her child’s adoptive placement. She says the Council said she could not be located at the time during the subsequent court proceedings. She also complains about the conduct of social workers. Miss X wants the Council to apologise for not informing her and to provide details about care proceedings for her child since the adoption broke down.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X’s initial complaint to the Council in November 2025 was that she was not informed about the breakdown of her child’s adoptive placement and subsequent developments.
9. We cannot investigate these matters. This is because they are closely linked to adoption and care proceedings. Decisions about a child’s care, placement and contact following adoption, and what information is shared about those matters, fall within the legal framework considered by the courts. The law prevents us from investigating these matters or actions inseparable from them.
10. Miss X did not hold parental responsibility following the Adoption Order. The Council has explained that, in those circumstances, it would not routinely inform birth family members of changes in a child’s circumstances, and any decision to share information would depend on agreement from the adoptive parents. The evidence shows Miss X’s contact with her child was limited to agreed indirect arrangements, which she maintained at Christmas and on birthdays.
11. I have therefore seen no evidence of fault in the Council not contacting Miss X at the time of the adoption breakdown.
12. I considered whether Miss X’s other aspects about the complaint about the conduct of social workers which would normally be within our remit.
13. The available evidence shows Ms X’s original complaint in November 2025 did not include concerns about any social workers conduct. There is no contemporaneous record of her raising concerns about social worker conduct at that time, or in December 2025 when she complained about not being informed of the adoption breakdown.
14. Given the lack of evidence and the inconsistencies in the accounts provided, I am unlikely to establish what happened on the balance of probabilities or reach a sound finding. For these reasons, we will not investigate this complaint as we do not consider further investigation would achieve the outcomes Miss X wants.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The main issues relate to matters which are outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about court action or what happened in court. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify us investigating Miss X’s other concerns about the Council and we cannot achieve the outcomes she wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman