London Borough of Barnet (19 014 162)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Feb 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss A’s complaint about a social worker she feels is responsible for her son being placed for adoption because it lies outside his jurisdiction. The law prevents the Ombudsman from considering matters that have been considered and decided in court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss A, complains about a social worker and the reasons why her son was removed from her care and placed for adoption.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Miss A provided. I also considered the complaint correspondence which we requested from the Council. I sent Miss A a draft of my decision and invited her comments on it.
What I found
- Miss A complained to the Council about a social worker who she felt was responsible for her son being removed from her care and placed for adoption. Miss A complained she had been unfairly treated.
- The Council responded to Miss A’s concerns at stage one of its complaints procedure but explained it could not consider it further because it was made in relation to matters that had been considered in court proceedings. It was the court’s decision to make the ruling and placement order. This decision cannot be considered or challenged via the Council’s complaints procedure and it would have no authority to challenge or change the court’s decision. The Council suggested Miss A seeks legal advice about whether she has grounds to challenge the court’s decision.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate this complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction. This is because the decision to place Miss A’s child for adoption was made by the court. The law prevents the Ombudsman from considering any matters that have been considered and decided in court. We have no discretion to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman