Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s response to incidents when her children were in foster care. Doing so would be unlikely to add to the Council’s own investigation, or to lead to a different or worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said her children suffered injuries while in foster care and the Council failed to do anything about this. She said the Council wrongly claimed these matters were dealt with in court.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue 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
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

3. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. While there has been court action in respect of the care of Mrs X’s children, I have not seen evidence that would allow me to decide on the balance of probabilities if the injuries to the children were considered in court. I have therefore assumed these matters have not formed part of court action in considering if there are grounds for us to investigate.
9. That Mrs X’s children suffered some injuries during a short period in foster care is not in dispute. The relevant question for whether we should investigate is whether there is a realistic prospect of us finding the Council’s response was outside the range open to it in the circumstances.
10. We would expect the Council to have decided whether any reported harm to children warranted safeguarding action to protect them from harm. We would also expect it to have provide a reason for its decision, and to have taken the action it deemed necessary to reduce or remove risk of harm.
11. The evidence of the complaint correspondence I have seen is that the Council held a child protection strategy meeting. It states the position taken was that the foster carers had reported incidents without delay, provided plausible explanations, and that the injuries were consistent with play. The Council having followed the correct procedure and reached a reasoned decision within the range available to it, it is not for me to substitute another view. That Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s position is not evidence of fault.
12. Other matters in Mrs X’s wider complaint to the Council are not ones we could or would investigate. The views and decisions of social workers related to the removal of Mrs X’s children, including their views of the wider family, are matters that either were or could reasonably have been raised during court proceedings. Social workers are entitled to interview children alone. And the Council apologised to Mrs X for failing to tell her promptly about the injuries or a medical examination of one of her children. Were we to have investigated, we would not have recommended more than that.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to lead to a different or worthwhile outcome beyond that already achieved.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman