Child protection

Nottinghamshire County Council (19 008 583)

Statement Not upheld Child protection 22-Jun-2020

Summary: Miss B complaints about the Council's handling of safeguarding referrals about her partner's son, Child D. The Ombudsman has found no fault in the way the Council has dealt with the concerns raised about Child D's welfare while in his mother's care.

Surrey County Council (18 009 201)

Statement Upheld Child protection 19-Jun-2020

Summary: Mrs X complained about how the Council handled a child protection intervention, and her subsequent complaint. She says the Council's actions caused significant distress and long term health problems that the remedy offered by the Council did not properly reflect. The Ombudsman has identified some additional fault with the way stage two of the statutory complaints procedure was carried out. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and make a payment to her.

Gloucestershire County Council (19 009 003)

Statement Upheld Child protection 19-Jun-2020

Summary: Miss X complains of fault in the way the Council responded to a disclosure by her daughter, Z about the child's father. She says this led to her having to move and being unable to work. There were some faults in procedure, which the Council accepts. It has already apologised for most of these, but it will also apologise for failing to send on minutes of core group meetings.

London Borough of Camden (19 012 765)

Statement Upheld Child protection 18-Jun-2020

Summary: Ms X complains the Council refused her initial request for a letter of support when applying for secondary school places for her child. The Council has accepted it was at fault. It has already apologised and provided Ms X with a suitable letter. So, we are completing our investigation.

Derby City Council (19 011 877)

Statement Upheld Child protection 17-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to share information with him between July and December 2018 about a child protection investigation it carried out involving his child. The Council followed legal advice when it decided not to share information with him. It also provided Mr X with an adequate explanation of that legal advice. It was at fault for failing to contact Mr X about the matter in 2019 when it promised to do so. However, this did not cause Mr X any injustice as the Council had already provided him with an explanation on the matter.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (18 011 337)

Statement Upheld Child protection 29-May-2020

Summary: Miss B complains about actions and decisions taken by the Council's children's services. We do not uphold all her complaints but find faults in the Council's record keeping and some communications. These have caused distress to Miss B. The Council has agreed our findings and will provide a remedy for Miss B's injustice, set out in detail at the end of this statement.

Surrey County Council (19 007 792)

Statement Upheld Child protection 26-May-2020

Summary: Mr B complains about the Council's handling of a child protection investigation concerning his children. The Ombudsman finds the Council was at fault in that it failed to keep Mr B informed, delayed in transferring the case to a social worker after the initial child protection conference and delayed in acting on his request that it contact his parents for information. It also failed to adequately respond to Mr B's complaint. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr B and pay him £550 in recognition of the injustice caused.

Swindon Borough Council (19 006 715)

Statement Upheld Child protection 22-May-2020

Summary: Mr B complains about an assessment carried out by children's social care at the Council, and about failure to follow the statutory process for children's services complaints. The Ombudsman finds no fault to call into question the assessment or the independent complaint investigation. There was however fault in the Council's handling of the complaint process after that investigation was concluded. That fault led to injustice for Mr B, for which a remedy payment and apology has been agreed.

Essex County Council (19 006 517)

Statement Upheld Child protection 16-Apr-2020

Summary: Ms F complains about the way the Council handled safeguarding allegations relating to her children. There was fault in the way meetings were arranged. The Council has already apologised for this which remedies the injustice caused. The Ombudsman has found no fault in the rest of the complaint.

Norfolk County Council (19 011 560)

Statement Upheld Child protection 31-Mar-2020

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council's failure to properly remedy injustice caused when a social worker shared inaccurate and damaging information about her son with others. She says this fault caused her and her family significant distress. The Council has already accepted fault and offered an apology and a modest payment to Mrs X to remedy the injustice caused. The Ombudsman is satisfied this is an acceptable outcome and we could add nothing further to the Council's investigation or remedy.