Summary: The complainant (Mr X) said the Council failed when performing its duties for his children who are in foster care. We found fault in the way the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint as it failed to consider it under the statutory children’s complaint procedure. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X, consider his complaint at stage two of the statutory children’s complaint procedure and consider amending its website to provide more details about the children’s services’ complaints.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council, when performing its duties for his children who are in foster care, failed by:
• Allowing his children to be taken abroad without arranging a conversation between him and foster carers, which he had asked for;
• Providing him with wrong information and advice;
• Allowing his children to change their surname without consulting him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

4. I reviewed all the documents sent by Mr X and by the Council.
5. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I found

Legal and administrative framework

7. The guidance ‘Getting the best from complaints’ Social Care Complaints and Representations for Children, Young People and Others (Guidance) is based on the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006. Only in exceptional circumstances councils can justify a variation from this document.
8. The Guidance specifies:
• which complaints should be considered under children’s statutory complaints procedure;
• who can complain;
• process and timescales for considering complaints.
9. Complaints about some councils’ functions performed under Part 4 of the Children Act 1989 should be considered under the statutory children’s complaints legislation. These include:
• The effect of the care order and the council’s actions and decisions where a care order is made;
• Control of parental contact with children in care.
10. The right to have a complaint about children looked after by the local authority considered under the statutory children’s complaints procedure extends on their parents and any other person who has parental responsibility for them.
11. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services.

What happened

12. Mr X’s three children are in foster care. He shares parental responsibility for them with their mother and the Council.
13. In December 2021 the Council told Mr X his children’s foster carers were planning to take them out of the country during the Easter break. Mr X had concerns about this trip but it happened anyway.
14. Throughout April to August on many occasions Mr X contacted the Council expressing his concerns and dissatisfaction about various aspects of fostering arrangements, including the way he was treated over his children’s trip abroad.
15. In June the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint about the way it managed his children’s foster care.
16. In the beginning of July Mr X’s extended his complaint to cover:
• his wider concerns about the lack of foster carer’s support for his contact with the children;
• no notification given to him of any details of his children’s trip abroad;
• reduction in the amount of contact sessions with his children from every two weeks to every two months.
17. In August the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care wrote to Mr X acknowledging and apologising for any flaws or miscommunication which might have occurred. Mr X remained dissatisfied as he wished to know what actions the Council took regarding specific members of the children’s services’ team.
18. Meanwhile the Council transferred Mr X’s case to a different team.
19. In October the Council sent Mr X a letter summarising its position on all Mr X’s complaints since April 2022:
• The Council will listen to Mr X’s views before making decisions about his children but can legitimately make them without Mr X’s consent;
• Although foster carers should normally work respectfully with the parents for the benefit of the children in their care, it is also acceptable for them to communicate with the parents via the social work team;
• In response to Mr X’s complaint about reducing his contact with the children and communications from the Council about this matter, a different team in the Council’s children’s services is now handling the case. There are still unresolved difficulties and the Council is aware Mr X remains unhappy about the contact arrangements.
20. At the end of the letter the Council advised Mr X to contact us if he remains dissatisfied with its final response.

Analysis

21. Some of the issues raised by Mr X in his complaints to the Council are about:
• His contact with the children;
• Impact of the Care Order on his right to take part in making decisions about the children.
22. These matters are included in the Guidance and the Council should have considered them under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
23. In response to our query the Council refused to consider Mr X’s complaint at the stage two of this procedure stating Mr X did not act on behalf of his children when he brought his complaints.
24. When listing parents of the looked after children among those whose representations should be considered in line with the statutory children’s complaint procedure, the law does not require them to act on behalf of their children. Councils should, therefore, apply the statutory children’s complaint procedure to any complaint brought by them, provided it relates to the matters named in the Guidance.
25. The Council failed to follow the right process when looking into Mr X’s complaint by failing to advise him about:
• his right to ask for his complaint to be investigated at stage two by an Investigating Officer, overseen by an Independent person;
• the statutory timescales for investigating his complaint.
26. The Council’s failings amount to fault, which caused Mr X injustice by depriving him of his right to have his complaint considered under the statutory children’s complaint procedure and the delay in resolving matters following the right process.

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Agreed action

27. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, we recommend the Council within 20 working days of my final decision complete the following:
• Send a written apology to Mr X;
• Start a stage two investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure to be completed within the statutory timescales;

The Council will provide us with the evidence it has completed the above actions.

28. We also recommend the Council within four months of the final decision consider amending information about the statutory children’s complaints on its website to include:
• Who can complain;
• Which matters will be considered under this procedure.

The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above.

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Final decision

29. I found fault in the way the Council considered Mr X’s complaint. This caused Mr X injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations, so this investigation is now at an end.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman