Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about contact with the complainant’s son. This is because it relates to a court order and is therefore out of our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr N, says that:
2. He has been unfairly refused contact with his son, and the court - ordered steps towards contact have not happened: and
3. His son’s carer “stole” money from him by making him pay for a TV that he had broken.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered the information provided by Mr N and by the Council. I have also sent Mr N an initial view for his comments.

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What I found

8. Mr N has a son who lives with a foster carer. Mr N has not had recent contact with his son.
9. Mr N says that there was a court case 2 years ago, which provided that he would have letterbox contact, then phone contact, and finally face to face contact with his son but this has not happened as ordered.
10. We are not able to consider this matter, because the decision regarding contact was made by a court. If Mr N feels that the Council is disobeying a court order, he would need to go back to court for its enforcement, as complaints relating to court decisions are out of our jurisdiction.
11. Mr N further complains that his son’s carer stole money from him. However, the Council has explained that it was because he had broken a TV set. There is nothing that investigation by the Ombudsman could add to this. The carer has day to day responsibility for Mr N’s son’s behaviour.

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Final decision

12. I cannot investigate this complaint as it relates to a matter that has been the subject of court proceedings.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman