A family, whose son with special needs was presenting very challenging behaviour, was left without support despite calling on Birmingham City Council for help, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has found.

The son, who is 16 and who has autistic spectrum disorder and communication difficulties, had been living at a residential school during the week. Staff at the school told the council that the teenager was often violent, they were struggling to respond to the boy’s outbursts and that it often took at least two staff to control his behaviour when he lashed out.

But on weekends and in the school holidays, the boy’s family was left to manage alone and without help.

The family first contacted Birmingham City Council in October 2012, and after an initial assessment by a social worker, the council closed the case in February 2013 without telling the family. The mother wrote again to the council in May that year to complain that she had heard nothing.

Another social worker carried out an assessment in May and the school sent the council supporting evidence to suggest that the teenager presented “very challenging behaviour”. The mother again told social workers she was struggling to cope.

While the family were waiting for help, the teenager’s outbursts became increasingly violent. On one occasion he crushed his mother’s windpipe and knocked her partner out, on another he gave his grandmother a bruised eye. The family told the council they were “at crisis point”.

By July, the school told the council that it could not meet the boy’s needs, and said that his behaviour put staff and others at “considerable risk”. But it was not until the LGO’s involvement in January 2014 that the council accepted that social care workers should be involved in the case and that the teenager may need full-time residential care.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:

“For far too long this family were placed at unnecessary risk because social workers failed to consider the wider implications of the family's situation.

“It was clear that this family needed help to look after the boy when he was living with them. Social workers should have considered whether the situation warranted an accommodation placement, rather than just looking at the boy’s educational needs.

“I am pleased to see that Birmingham City Council has already apologised to the family and taken on board my recommendations to ensure that others in a similar situation are treated differently.”

The council has already apologised to the family for failing to carry out the core assessment of the boy’s needs and has agreed to carry out a fresh assessment.

The council should also pay the mother £1,000 for the distress caused by its failure to help her cope with her son’s actions and should also pay the mother £250 for the failure to reply to her correspondence.

Article date: 08 April 2014