Council instigated care proceedings “without proper evidence”, Ombudsman finds

The woman behind the complaint had a traumatic birth experience during which her baby was potentially starved of oxygen and was later diagnosed with a life-long medical condition.

While the baby was in hospital, the mother became concerned about some of the medical decisions being made and declined a treatment after she believed a previous one had caused an infection.

The hospital involved the council, which sought legal advice. The council decided the mother had poor mental health and the family had previously been subject to domestic abuse.

The Ombudsman noted: “Despite there being no evidence for this, and despite the older child’s school telling the council it had no welfare concerns, the council decided the children were ‘at risk of significant harm’ and started the process to remove the children from the family.”

The mother complained to the local authority, and its investigation found the family’s situation should not have met the threshold for action, and that it made judgments about the mother without a proper assessment or evidence.

It acknowledged the mother should have been offered support instead.

According to the Ombudsman, the council also accepted there was no evidence of domestic abuse, and that it should not have started the public law outline process.

The council carried out a learning review, and the mother made a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Finding the council at fault, the Ombudsman recommended the council arrange for a senior officer to apologise to the mother, and for the council to pay her £350 for the uncertainty caused.

The report noted the council has already offered the mother £4,000 for the events that occurred.

Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The mother in this case has been left deeply traumatised by what has happened to her. She said she was treated like a danger to her children during one of the most frightening, exhausting and vulnerable times of her life. She has told us she and her children carry the emotional consequences every day.

“While this is an extreme case, and I recognise social workers walk an incredibly narrow tightrope when protecting children from harm, councils still need to make these life-changing decisions based on robust evidence, and not on hearsay, rumour or assumption.

“I appreciate the council has already taken on board much of the learning from this case, but I have published this report to highlight to others the serious consequences for families when councils get things so badly wrong.”

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: “We are fully committed to acting in the best interests of every child. Children in Cheshire East deserve the highest standards of care and support, and we are determined to ensure that is delivered.

“We have offered a sincere apology to the individual affected and fully recognise the distress this situation has caused.

“In response, we proactively carried out a learning review and developed a comprehensive action plan to address all the issues identified. The Local Government Ombudsman described the review as thorough, holistic and well-balanced, with a clear focus on the key factors that contributed to the faults in this case.”

Lottie Winson