Norfolk County Council (18 009 566)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 19 Jun 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Ms X complained the Council prevented her from having adequate contact with her grandchildren from June 2017. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

  1. Ms X complained:
      1. the Council acted illegally when it prevented her from having adequate contact with her grandchildren, Y and Z between June 2017 and March 2018;
      2. the assessment of the relative who was appointed Y and Z’s special guardian was biased and flawed; and
      3. the Council lied in its reports to court.
  2. Ms X says this caused her and the children avoidable distress.

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What I have investigated

  1. I have investigated a). I have not investigated b) and c) and I explain why at the end of this decision.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  3. If we are satisfied with a council’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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I spoke to Ms X and considered her comments and the information she provided.
  2. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response. This included copies of review meeting minutes, supervision reviews with Y and Z and their special guardian, copies of relevant court orders, the children’s care plans, correspondence from the children’s mother and complaints correspondence.
  3. I have written to Ms X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

The law

  1. Councils have a duty under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need by providing services and support appropriate to the child’s needs.
  2. In law, grandparents do not have any right to contact with their grandchildren. They cannot automatically apply to the courts for a contact order without parental rights, but they can ask the courts for permission to do so. If successful, a grandparent can then apply for a contact order. A contact order determines issues such as the amount of access someone can have to the child.

What happened

  1. Y and Z are siblings of primary school age. Around June 2017, it became apparent the children could not be cared for by either of their parents. The Council classified them as children needing support and assigned them a social worker. The children’s mother gave permission for the children to live temporarily with a relative, Ms G.
  2. Prior to the children living with Ms G, Ms X said she had seen them every week.
  3. In June 2017, Ms X says she met with a Council social worker and informed them that she wanted to continue having contact with the children. Ms X said the arrangements currently in place were for her to see them once a week after school. She says the social worker was reluctant to discuss contact and spoke aggressively towards her.
  4. Ms X says that she did not have contact with the children until October 2017, around four months after they had begun living with Ms G. Ms X says she was worried about the children after seeing them but the social worker ignored what she said.
  5. The social worker had concerns about the impact on the children of meetings with Ms X. These concerns centred on information Ms X was giving the children about their mother and the duration of the weekly visit. As a result, the Council drew up a contract for contact between Ms X and the children. This said that Ms X would have contact every other week for one evening after school until 7pm as well as fortnightly contact in the school holidays. Ms X signed the agreement and saw the children in November.
  6. Ms X also says that around this time she told the social worker she wanted to be considered as the children’s special guardian but the social worker ignored her request.
  7. Following this meeting, the Council drew up a new contract. This said Ms X must agree to respond in a particular way to questions by the children about their mother. The children were also allowed to refuse to see Ms X.
  8. Ms X refused to sign the contract because she was unhappy about the response she had been told to make to questions about the children’s mother. Because of this refusal, the Council stopped Ms X’s contact with the children. This is because it did not consider it was in their best interest to see Ms X.
  9. Ms X complained to the Council in November 2017. It responded in December and stated it did not wish to prevent Ms X from seeing the children; however, its main priority was their welfare and Ms X needed to work within the arrangements in the contract. The Council said contact with the children could not be on an ad hoc basis and she must sign the contract.
  10. Ms X complained again to the Council in January 2018. Her complaints concerned the actions of the social worker and her lack of contact with the children.
  11. The Council responded in February. It said it must prioritise a consistent routine for the children ahead of agreeing to Ms X’s requests for ad hoc visits. The Council also said that Ms X did not have parental responsibility and any plans for contact had been made with the children’s best interests in mind. The Council stated it had attempted to set up a contract with Ms X but she continued to refuse to sign it. The Council said the case would be heard in court shortly and the children’s mother was likely to ask for Ms X to have regular contact.
  12. The case was heard by the court in March 2018. The court issued an interim care order placing the children in the care of the Council.
  13. Ms X saw the children once between March and October 2018.
  14. In October, the court made an order under the Children Act 1989 whereby Ms G was appointed special guardian to the children with Ms X granted supervised contact six times a year with the children.
  15. Ms X was unhappy with the information provided by the Council about her to the court. She was also unhappy because she felt the Council helped Ms G with her special guardian application but ignored her own application. As a result, she complained to the Ombudsman. In this complaint, she also said the Council had failed to allow her to see the children regularly from July 2017 and that in the seven months since the making of the final court order, she had not seen the children.
  16. In the Council’s response to my enquiries, the case notes for the children indicate the children have refused to see Ms X since the court order was granted.

My findings

Contact between Ms X and the children between June 2017 and October 2018

  1. There was no fault in the Council’s actions in relation to the contact between June 2017 and October 2018. This is because:
    • the children’s mother placed them voluntarily with Ms G when she became unable to look after them. Ms G was therefore entitled to arrange contact with other family members as she wished, which she did in consultation with the Council;
    • although Ms X had previously had regular contact with the grandchildren, she had no right in law to see them. It was open to her, however, to apply to the courts for permission to apply for a contact order;
    • under s17 of the Children Act 1989, the Council has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within its area. The evidence provided by the Council demonstrates it carried out these duties appropriately. This included determining the amount and type of access the children should have with relatives, including Ms X;
    • in December 2017, the Council drew up a contract for Ms X because it felt this was necessary to protect the children’s best interests. When Ms X refused to sign the contract, the Council was entitled to take this into account when determining Ms X’s levels of contact under its s17 duties; and
    • in March 2018, the court granted the Council a care order for the children. At this point the Council was entitled to decide the level of contact with Ms X that was in the children’s best interests. The evidence indicates the decisions on contact made by the Council were evidence based and proportionate.

Contact between Ms X and Y and Z from October 2018 onwards

  1. The court order stated Ms X should have contact with the children six times a year.
  2. The Council set up two visits in December 2018 and February 2019. The children refused to attend these. Further visits have been offered to the children who continue to refuse. The Council and Ms G have decided it is not in the children’s best interests to force contact. If Ms X disagrees with this decision she can return to court. I will not investigate this matter further.

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Final decision

  1. There was no fault in the Council’s actions. Therefore, I have completed my investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

  1. We cannot investigate the Council’s views on whom should care for the children or its assessment of Ms G’s fitness to care for them as the Court has considered this.
  2. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the Council’s reports to court. This is because it forms part of legal proceedings and the law prevents us from investigating such matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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