City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (22 013 324)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to investigate Mrs X’s complaint further. There is not enough evidence of fault in the substantive matter complained of to warrant investigation by us of that, or the Council’s handling of a complaint about it.
The complaint
- Mrs X said the Council wrongly refused to investigate further her complaint about a decision it made. This decision was not to carry out a viability assessment for her as a possible foster carer for a child to whom she was not related after a foster placement for the child failed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- When a child requires foster care, councils must consider family members first as potential carers. If no family member is a potential kinship carer, they look to find a qualified foster carer. Although Mrs X is well acquainted with the child, she is not a family member or a qualified foster carer. Thus, it would not be fault for the Council to decline to carry out a viability assessment for her as a potential foster carer for the child. Where we would not find fault with a council’s actions in a substantive matter, we do not find fault with it for declining to continue with a complaint about that matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the substantive matter underlying the complaint to warrant investigation. It would not be a good use of public money to investigate the Council’s handling of a complaint about a matter we would not investigate ourselves.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman