Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to accept she resigned as a foster carer in October 2016. The Council found the letter on the foster child’s file in 2018 and this confirmed Mrs X only gave notice on the placement and was not her resignation as a foster carer. There is no fault by the Council investigating complaints by the foster child and referring the matter to a fostering review panel. There is fault in the Council’s response to the notice to end the placement and her complaints about the resignation letter.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council’s failed to accept she resigned as a foster carer in writing in October 2016. This failure caused considerable distress including her requirement to attend an Independent Review Mechanism Panel and her de-registration as a foster carer.
2. Mrs X says the situation has been extremely distressing and her reputation has been adversely affected.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• sent my draft decision to both the Council and the complainant and invited their comments.

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What I found

6. Mrs X and her late husband were foster carers for many years. Mrs X decided to continue as a foster carer after her husband died. The first placement Mrs X took on her own, was a teenage girl who I will call Z.
7. Mrs X struggled to cope with Z who displayed challenging behaviour. In October 2016, Mrs X wrote to the Council resigning as a foster carer. Mrs X believed the letter was her resignation as a foster carer. However, the letter stated “I wish to give one months notice on “Z” starting on 12 October. The letter does not state she is resigning as a foster carer completely. The Council started action to find an alternative placement for Z.
8. The file notes provided by the Council show Mrs X telephoned on 1 November. The notes says Mrs X has not received any supervision since August and that she had given notice on Z’s placement and she had resigned as a foster carer. A supervision meeting was carried out on 4 November. I have not seen any notes of the supervision meeting and so I do not know if any discussion took place about Mrs X’s resignation.
9. The Council needed to find an alternative placement for Z by 12 November. Notes dated 9 November state it has not identified an alternative placement. On 10 November it asks Mrs X if she will extend the placement for a few days until an alternative is found. Mrs X agrees and tells the Council she will keep Z longer if the Council is planning to return her home as that will avoid an interim placement.
10. The file notes dated 13 December say Z does not want to return home. The notes suggest Mrs X could continue with the placement and Z’s challenging behaviour if the Council provided more support.
11. The file notes dated 21 December indicate an error by the Council and that the placement team did not receive the request on 9 November seeking an alternative placement for Z. The notes mention holding a disruption meeting. This is the first mention of the Council holding such a meeting.
12. The file notes dated 30 December say the Council needs to arrange a placement breakdown/care planning meeting as soon as possible. On 9 January Mrs X contacted the Council saying she needed a week’s respite until it found an alternative placement for Z. The Council agreed to provide a week’s respite.
13. The file notes dated 18 January indicate an urgent meeting is needed and it is becoming concerned about the timescales. A file note says an alternative placement is needed by the end of March.
14. On 26 January Mrs X contacts the Council saying she needs immediate respite. The Council says this is not possible. However, the following day the Council tells Mrs X it has identified a respite carer from Monday 30 January 2017. Z leaves Mrs X’s care on 30 January.
15. The file notes indicate the Council hoped to move Z from the respite carer to a new placement. It asked Mrs X to confirm she intends to stop fostering. Mrs X confirms that she intends to resign from her fostering role. The file notes also refer to Mrs X saying she intends to take Z on holiday in May and asking when she will return from respite. The Council tells Mrs X, Z will return on 20 February.
16. A file note dated 21 February say Z is concerned about returning to Mrs X and that she did not want to go. Z makes allegations against Mrs X. On 24 February, the file notes state that Z will remain in her current placement.
17. On 2 March, following further disclosures from Z, the Council makes a referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and starts a section 47 investigation. Following a decision by the police not to take any further action, the Council notified Mrs X it would be investigating the allegations in relation to her role as a foster carer.
18. The Council spoke to Mrs X and her adult daughter, Ms X, about the allegations. The Council’s notes suggest Ms X was responsible for one reported incident. It was noted this was an isolated incident and that no further action would be taken. Ms X worked within a care service.
19. The Council produced a report recommending Mrs X’s deregistration as a foster carer due to a lack of emotional warmth and issues with her parenting style. Mrs X says she had already resigned as a foster carer in October 2016 and so she could not now be deregistered. The Council disputed this claim and said Mrs X had stated her intention to resign on a number of occasions, but she had never formally given notice. Mrs X submitted a letter of registration on 30 May 2017. Mrs X says she was advised to resign in order to stop the review panel. Mrs X says this was incorrect advice and the timing of the resignation meant the review panel could not be stopped.
20. A fostering review panel on 12 June, made the decision to de-register Mrs X as a foster carer.
21. Mrs X believed she had resigned as a foster carer in October 2016. She repeatedly told the Council she had resigned in writing but the Council could not find a copy of her letter. Mrs X says she continually complained about this to the Council. She says that the Council could not have de-registered as a foster carer if she had already resigned.
22. In May 2018, the Council accepted that it had received Mrs X’s letter dated October 2016. It says the letter was scanned onto its document system in November 2016. The Council said it was unable to now alter the decision to de-register Mrs X as a foster carer.

Analysis

23. A foster carer may give written notice that they wish to resign from the role. Their registration as a foster carer is automatically terminated 28 days after receipt of the notice. The Council cannot decline a resignation.
24. A foster carer may also give written notice on ending a foster placement. In this circumstance, a council may arrange a disruption meeting to discuss any issues and plan for the future care of the foster child.
25. The information provided shows Mrs X did send a letter of resignation in October 2016. The Council considered this letter to be notice of the foster care placement only. While I accept Mrs X’s assertion that it was her intention to resign as a foster carer, the letter does not state that. I find no fault in the Council treating this as notice on the foster placement only.
26. Mrs X says she sent three letters to the Council in October 2016, one of which was a letter of resignation as a foster carer. No copy of this letter has been provided by either Mrs X or the Council. I am not persuaded such a letter was received by the Council.
27. The Council confirms it did not place the resignation letter on Mrs X’s file but put it on the file for the foster child, Z. This means that when Mrs X questioned the Council about the letter, it could not find a copy on Mrs X’s file. Mrs X continued to raise the issue that she had resigned as a foster carer but there is nothing to suggest the Council showed Mrs X a copy of her letter. I consider this would have been the easiest way to resolve the issue and confirm to Mrs X that she had not resigned as a foster carer. On balance, taking account of Mrs X’s actions and the wording of the Council’s letter of 10 May 2018, I believe the Council did misplace the letter and did not clarify its contents with Mrs X causing her to continue to complain. This fault by the Council put Mrs X to avoidable distress and further time and trouble in pursuing her complaint.
28. The Council delayed in ending the foster care placement after Mrs X gave notice in October 2016. The case notes show the Council did not act promptly and had difficulty identifying a suitable alternative placement. It did ask Mrs X to continue with the placement and she agreed but it did not offer additional help and support when it was clear Mrs X was struggling to cope. The Council’s failure to promptly organise a disruption meeting and find an alternative placement for the foster child is fault causing distress to Mrs X.
29. I am satisfied the Council responded correctly to the complaints raised by Z against Mrs X. The matter was referred to the police and the Council carried out its own investigation after the police decided not to take any action. Mrs X had not resigned as a foster carer when the Council started its investigation and then decided to refer the case to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) Panel.
30. Mrs X attended the IRM panel and had the opportunity to present her case. The minutes show that other people involved in the case also gave evidence to the panel. The IRM panel decided by a vote of four to three that Mrs X was unsuitable to be approved as foster carer in the future and so she was de-registered. I am satisfied this was the professional judgement of the IRM panel and there is nothing to suggest any fault in the process leading to that decision.
31. Mrs X did write a letter of resignation as a foster carer in May 2017. This was after the investigation into her conduct had started and so it was appropriate for that process to be followed to an outcome.
32. I have not seen any evidence which shows Mrs X resigned as a foster carer in October 2016 as she claims. This means her registration continued and I cannot criticise the decision to investigate her or the panel’s decision to end her registration.

Agreed action

33. I have identified fault causing an injustice to Mrs X. I therefore recommend the Council, within three months of my final decision, should:
• Apologise to Mrs X for misplacing her letter of October 2016 and failing to promptly identify an alternative placement for the foster child; and
• Review its procedures for finding alternative placements when notice is given to ensure they are fit for purpose.

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Final decision

34. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. The Council has agreed to implement the action I have recommended. These appropriately remedy the injustice caused by fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman