Complaints.

[G1ggleloop]

Hi does anyone have any idea on how to address serious complaints about a LA? We seem to have exhausted all avenues within the authority and haven't received a satisfactory response. Who do we go to next?

That really depends on what you want to happen next. There is a formal complaint system, but it may not be the best choice:

1. What stage are you at?
2. Loosely what's the issue?
3. What outcome do you want?

In a nutshell, they haven't followed their own procedures. Our child has had a younger sibling placed through foster to adopt. We were not informed the child existed. We found out in an unpleasant way. We then received a fob off letter saying it was an oversight, followed by a very upsetting email update about the child in question. We've not been spoken to about all this in person at all and have been ignored continuously. I basically want an apology and some acknowledgement that they have done wrong. And an assurance that nobody else would be put through something similar. To be clear we were in a position to adopt this sibling and were keen to do. (Two and a half years post last placement)

We went via solicitor to head of SS dept in similar circumstance.

Has the child been granted an AO as yet? If not it may not be too late for you to ask to adopt as the nearest relative - your child as a sibling is the nearest relative and therefore you do have some (very small) rights - or rather your child does. If the AO has not been granted then you could contact SS via a solicitor ASAP.

Sadly the adoption order has been granted. I think after this amount of time I wouldn't feel comfortable asking for the child to be removed from the placement even if we could. That wouldn't be fair on either the child or the adoptive parents. But some acknowledgment of wrongdoing would be nice, rather than a shrug and an ooops.

Can I ask was the solicitor ridiculously expensive? And did you get a decent result. We have dealt with two different LA and the difference between the two has been astounding.

For something official I would (and did) go via solicitor. For us it gave us the assurance it wouldn't happen again, and gave us a papertrail rather than allowing it to be brushed under the carpet.
The cost of a consultation and letter wasn't too bad - circa £200