Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the actions of the Council’s children services. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome she wants and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services. She says the Council should not have removed her children from her care and complains about its actions since her children have been looked after by the Council. She wants the Council to increase her contact with her children and return them to her care.

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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. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We cannot investigate matters that have been considered in court. Ms X’s children are subject to care orders granted by a court and so we cannot investigate this point.
7. Ms X also complained about the Council’s actions since the care orders have been in place. This included that she has had insufficient contact with the children, there was frequent changing of social workers, and that her children have developed health problems since moving into care.
8. In its complaint response, the Council responded to her points of complaint and explained its actions and decision making. It explained its reasoning for the current levels of contact between her and her children and that this had been discussed and agreed at the last review meeting. It said it had no concerns over her children’s health and their health needs were being met.
9. It partly upheld her complaint that there had been frequent changes in social workers. It told her what action it was taking to reduce the impact of staff changes on her children and to improve its service for families more widely.
10. We should not investigate this complaint. Ms X wants the children returned to her care but we cannot achieve this, as this decision can only be made by a court. The Council has explained its decision making for current levels of contact between her and her children and the reasoning for this. It is unlikely further investigation could add anything to the response already provided or would lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she wants and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman