Summary: Mrs B complained about the action taken by the Council in respect of her children when they were in foster care. We cannot find any fault with Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains about Torbay Council (the Council), in respect of her three children in foster care. In particular she says that:
• the Council has written inaccurate reports about her and her partner;
• the social worker has bullied them;
• the Council refused to allocate a support worker to assist Mrs B; and
• failed to provide adequate explanations for injuries her children sustained while in foster care.
2. This has caused Mrs B significant distress at a difficult time.

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What I have investigated

3. We cannot investigate the reports social workers have written as part of court proceedings because that is a matter for the courts to deal with. Neither can we intervene in any part of those court proceedings, including decisions on contact, care and residence. I have investigated the third and fourth points of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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’. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
6. 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

Child in Need

7. A child in need is a child who is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by a local authority. It includes children who are disabled.

Child protection

8. Councils have a duty to make enquiries where a child is considered to be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. The enquiries must establish the child’s situation and determine whether protective action is required (section 47 of the Children Act 1989). Significant harm covers the risk of physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect.

What happened

9. The Council has been involved with Mrs B and her children since 2016. Her children have been children in need for most of the period between 2016 and 2019. They were also subject to a section 47 assessment which led to a child protection plan. Social workers were liaising regularly with the family during this period.
10. In November 2019 Mrs B made a complaint to the Council about bruises on her children, who were now in foster care. The Council responded in December 2019. It explained that the foster carers had reported three incidents which may have led to the bruising and gave full details of the circumstances. It said it would discuss Mrs B’s concerns with the social worker and foster carers.
11. Mrs B made another complaint about bruises on her children in February 2020. The Council responded giving details of the incident which had caused the bruising. It also confirmed that the foster carers had reported all incidents and provided a body map identifying where the injury was. Social workers visited regularly and no concerns had been raised about the care provided.
12. In March 2020 Mrs B escalated the complaint to stage two of the complaints procedure. The Council appointed an Investigating Officer and an Independent Person who met with Mrs B to discuss the complaint. But following this meeting they received no response from her regarding the agreed complaint points. The Council tried to contact Mrs B to ask if she would like to continue with the complaint but it received no response so the complaint has been closed.
13. Mrs B made two further complaints in July and August regarding the foster carers and issues with contact, but these were both withdrawn due to court proceedings starting. Mrs B complained to the Ombudsman in August 2020.
14. The Council said in response to my enquiries that it was not its role to provide Mrs B with a support worker and a social worker was working the family throughout the period 2016 to 2019 with the aim of improving the children’s welfare. Mrs B voluntarily engaged with this process.

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What I found

15. I cannot identify any fault in the actions of the Council. It has explained why it did not allocate a support worker to Mrs B: it was not its policy to do so and Mrs B had support from a social worker as part of the child in need process. It has also provided full details of the circumstances leading to bruising on her children and confirmed that it has no concerns about the care provided by the foster carers. Mrs B did not pursue her complaint about these issues and court action has now started.

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Final decision

16. I have completed my investigation into this complaint as I am unable to find fault causing injustice in the actions of the Council towards Mrs B.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman