Summary: the Council’s response to concerns raised by Mr and Mrs P’s fostering agency identified serious failings with the Council’s removal of a child they fostered. The Council has not, however, responded to Mr and Mrs P’s complaint. The Council has agreed to consider their complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs P are foster carers. They complain the Council ended a long-term foster placement and removed a child from them. They are unhappy with the way the Council treated them and its response to their complaint.

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What I have investigated

2. I have considered the Council’s response to Mr and Mrs P’s compliant. I have not investigated the removal of the child from them.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
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. I have considered:
• information provided by Mr and Mrs P; and
• information provided by the Council.
6. I invited Mr and Mrs P and the Council to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

7. Mr and Mrs P are foster carers. They are registered with an independent fostering agency. They have fostered a number of children for the Council.
8. They complain about the removal of a child, C, who they believed was in a long-term placement with them. They say they were subjected to bullying, unfair and disproportionate scrutiny, and faced unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations.
9. Mr and Mrs P say their experience has led them to re-consider their future as foster carers, a profession they greatly enjoyed, and their decision will have serious financial consequences for them.

Mr and Mrs P’s complaint

10. Mr and Mrs P complained to the Council about C’s removal. Their fostering agency also complained to the Council.
11. The Council responded to the fostering agency under a procedure referred to as “professional escalation”. The Council’s response acknowledged problems with the removal of C from Mr and Mrs P. In particular, the Council acknowledged poor communication by social workers meant concerns were not always discussed with Mr and Mrs P. This meant they were not able to respond.
12. The Council maintained it had made decisions in C’s best interests, but acknowledged that its handling of the case denied Mr and Mrs P an opportunity to work with the Council to address concerns for C’s wellbeing.
13. The Council acknowledged that a lack of open and honest communication by Council Officers undermined Mr and Mrs P’s trust. The Council concluded, “The practice in this case does not meet our practice standards as it lacked that clear, open, honest, and professional relationship that we should have with all our foster carers.”
14. The Council also acknowledged that communication with Mr and Mrs P’s fostering agency should have been better. It said the way C was removed from Mr and Mrs P was “far from ideal for both C and Mr and Mrs P.”
15. The Council apologised for any upset and distress the matter has caused.
16. The Council has not responded to Mr and Mrs P’s complaint. It said the complaints process could not return C to their care or consider the implications for their income or their career as foster carers. The Council said the officers responding to the fostering agency under the “professional escalation” procedures were more senior than the complaints team, so a complaint response could not add anything further.

Consideration

17. A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about a council service that requires a response. (Effective complaint handling for local authorities published by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in October 2020)
18. Mr and Mrs P have expressed dissatisfaction with the Council’s fostering service and the removal of C from their care. They have made a complaint.
19. The Council undertook a review of the case in order to respond to the “professional escalation” by Mr and Mr P’s fostering agency. The review identified some serious failings by the Council.
20. Mr and Mrs P’s complaint is different from the “professional escalation” by their fostering agency. Mr and Mrs P have set out in considerable detail their dissatisfaction with the Council’s fostering service. They have described the personal injustice the Council’s alleged failings have caused them. Their complaint requires a response.
21. The involvement of senior managers in the “professional escalation” process does not rule out a complaint investigation. The Ombudsman expects councils to treat each complaint on its merits, and complaint investigations to be proportionate and pragmatic. Mr and Mrs P have raised serious concerns, some of which senior managers have already acknowledged. Their complaint now needs a proportionate – and personal – response from the Council.

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Agreed action

22. We have published guidance to explain how we recommend remedies for people who have suffered injustice as a result of fault by a council. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the Council had not occurred.
23. I find fault with the Council’s failure to respond to Mr and Mrs P’s complaint.
24. I recommended the Council respond to Mr and Mrs P’s complaint. Where the Council finds fault with its actions, it should consider whether it has caused injustice, and if so, it should offer an appropriate remedy.
25. The Council should begin to consider Mr and Mrs P’s complaint as soon as I issue my final decision, and should complete its response within the published timescales for its complaints process.
26. The Council accepted my recommendations. The Council said, “Although much of the evidence and findings on these issues has already been established via the professional escalation investigation the investigating officer and independent person will have the opportunity to discuss the complaint with Mr & Mrs P to understand their perspective, add to the evidence and findings made by the previous investigation if required; and consider the impact on Mr & Mrs P of faults found.”
27. I welcome the Council’s comments.

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Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation as the Council accepts my recommendations.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman