Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council ended a long-term foster placement with the complainant and her husband. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation and we cannot achieve the outcome she is looking for.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs C, complains the Council ended a long-term foster placement and removed her and husband’s foster child, who I will refer to as D, from their care without notice. She says it was not necessary for the Council to remove D from their care, and she is unhappy with the way it did so. She says it has emotionally impacted her, her family and D, and she would like compensation. She also wants the Council to reassess her and her husband as carers and allow D to return to their care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
• 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; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 including the Council’s complaint response.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs C and her husband provided foster care to D under an arrangement with the Council through an independent fostering agency. The Council decided to end the long-term foster placement during a care planning meeting, and removed D from their care a few days later without notice, while D was at school.
7. The Council says it ended the placement following the agency’s decision to de-register Mrs C and her husband as foster carers. It was the agency’s decision to de-register Mrs C and her husband and so the Council is not responsible for this.
8. The Council says it ended the placement without notice due to previous concerns the agency raised to it about Mrs C sharing inappropriate information with D. To avoid this, the Council considered it would be in the best interests of D if it told Mrs C about the decision after it had already removed D. The Council did tell Mrs C of the decision as soon as D was removed, and says it made attempts to manage the impact this would have, by giving her the opportunity to say goodbye to D, which she declined.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs C’s complaint. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Rather, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question the merits of the decision.
10. While I appreciate Mrs C is unhappy with the Council’s decision to end the placement, and the way in which it did, it was entitled to act on the agency’s decision and there is no evidence to suggest there was fault in the way the Council reached its decision.
11. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide if compensation should be awarded. If Mrs C thinks she is entitled to compensation it would be reasonable for her to make a claim against the Council in Court.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs C’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation and we cannot achieve the outcome she is looking for.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman