Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the actions taken by the Council when it removed her daughter, Ms C from her care and took court action. This is because the court made the decision about where Ms C should live and the contact arrangements. The Ombudsman cannot investigate these matters.

The complaint

1. Mrs B says the Council were too quick to involve the court and remove her daughter, Ms C five years ago from her care. Mrs B says the Council bullied her and her legal representatives to dropping the case and says public bodies support the Council who has no accountability for its actions. In addition, Mrs B says the Council told Ms C to only give her positive information and it is now clear the difficulties and problems she encountered during the time she was away from her family, this was not the case. Mrs B says this has caused additional problems for her and Ms C.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I discussed the concerns with Mrs B and considered the information and documentation she and the Council provided. I sent Mrs B a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

5. Mrs B is unhappy with the actions of the Council and its decision to take court action to remove her daughter from her care. The Ombudsman cannot investigate what happened in court and it was for Mrs B and her representatives to explain to the court the bullying actions of the Council she alleges so it could make an informed decision about contact and responsibility for Ms C.
6. Mrs B says since her daughter was returned to her care in August she has realised Ms C had a lot of difficulties and problems during her time away from the family she was not told about. Mrs B says the Council told Ms C to only give her positive news when she met during contact arrangements. The Council met with Mrs B and Ms C in November to discuss her concerns. The minutes of the meeting say:

[Mrs B] and [Ms C’s] feelings about the loss of time spent with each other, when [Ms C] was in care; [Ms C] wanting to please her mother and saying what she believed her mother wanted to hear; The challenges any teenager would face in fitting in, making friends, in a new school; the fact that the SW had given consideration to [Ms C’s] need for support from the school prior her to going to the present school, the present school was the best school to meet [Ms C’s] needs; there is no guarantee that a change in school would be better or that [Ms C’s] reaction would be different.

7. I have not seen any evidence to support Mrs B’s assertion that the Council told Ms C to only give her mother positive information and could not say this is fault. Mrs B can complain to the Council if she believes Ms C is being bullied and harassed in her current school and should be offered a different placement.
8. Mrs B is concerned the Council asked her to destroy personal information about someone else it sent to her in error. This has not caused Mrs B any significant injustice warranting an Ombudsman investigation.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the actions complained about were made by a court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman