Summary: The Ombudsman cannot consider Mrs X’s complaint about her son’s care because it relates to matters that have been decided in court. Such matters lie outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and the law prevents him from considering them.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council failed to properly support her and, as a result, her son was placed with his aunt and uncle under a Special Guardianship Order in September 2017. Mrs X would like her son returned to her care. She also complains the contact arrangements have broken down.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mrs X provided in her complaint. I also considered the complaint correspondence which we requested from the Council. I sent Mrs X a draft copy of my decision and invited her comments on it.

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What I found

6. Mrs X complains the Council failed to properly support her as a care leaver and a new mother. Mrs X gave birth to her son in February 2017. She then suffered with postnatal depression. Mrs X says the Council told her she abandoned her son.
7. In September 2017, the court granted a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) to her son’s aunt and uncle. He now lives with them.
8. Mrs X would like her son to be returned to her care and to receive the support she says she needs. Mrs X says she was not given the opportunity to show she could be a good parent to her son. She believes if things had been dealt with correctly her son would be in her care.
9. Mrs X complained to the Council about these matters in November 2017. She also complained her son had become unwell whilst in the care of his aunt and uncle and had been to hospital on several occasions.
10. The Council’s complaint response said it put support in place for Mrs X during the time her son was subject to a child protection plan. A parenting assessment was also carried out as part of the court proceedings, which concluded with the court granting an SGO to her son’s aunt and uncle.
11. It acknowledged Mrs X’s son had some hospital admissions during this time. This was attributed to the fact her son was susceptible to illness due to his premature birth rather than concerns about how he was being cared for. It explained it could not revoke the SGO as this was a legal matter for the courts. It said it had attempted to support Mrs X with arranging ongoing contact and, going forward, support could be provided by the SGO support team. The Council said it could not alter the agreed level of contact as again it was a matter decided by the court. It suggested Mrs X could seek legal advice about this.

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Final decision

12. We cannot consider this complaint. This is because the crux of the matter has been decided in court proceedings. We cannot consider matters that have been considered and decided in court. These matters lie outside our jurisdiction and we have no discretion to consider them.
13. The complaint also lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to the Ombudsman within 12 months of a person first becoming aware of the matter they wish to complain about.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman