Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions connected to the relationship between her and her child. The Court decided who should care for her child and her contact. The child is now an adult and any complaint about their support and care must come directly from them.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council wrongly removed her child from her care, did not allow enough contact between them, did not meet her child’s needs and failed to support her.

Back to top

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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
5. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint and her previous complaints. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

7. Ms X has a child, B, now aged over 18. In 2016, the Council applied to Court for it to decide who should care for B. The Council says the Court granted a care order, meaning the Council, and not Ms X, should care for B and ordered there should be no contact between Ms X and B.
8. We cannot therefore investigate any complaint about the lack of contact Ms X had nor the circumstances which led to B being cared for by the Council. In addition, previous complaints to us have touched on these issues.
9. As B is now over 18, any complaint about the care they received while a child, or now as an adult, will need to come directly from them or from someone who has their written consent.
10. We previously considered the support to Ms X in 2018/19. We cannot investigate the same issues again.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate issues which we have previously considered and decided nor those which a Court decided.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman