Adoptive mother left in fear of ‘violent’ birth father after council mistake

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 14 August 2023

Nottinghamshire County Council failed to adequately inform a mother of the risk posed to her adopted son by his “violent” birth father who was due to be released from prison, an ombudsman investigation has found.

In December 2018 the council told the mother (Ms X) that the birth father (Mr Z) would be released from prison at the end of the month, stating that he was a potential risk to the child (Y) and providing information about his history of violence.

But shortly after this, the risk was assessed as "low" and an email was sent telling Ms X that Mr Z had not talked about the adoption recently, did not appear to know where Ms X or Y lived, and did not appear to have any contact with Y’s birth mother.

The email was sent to the wrong address and the mistake went undetected for more than a month.

The mother complained about what she saw as the council's failure to protect both her and her adopted son from the risk posed by his birth father.

The council considered the complaint under the Children Act 1989 complaints procedure and the initial complaint concluded the council informed Ms X about the risk without offering any solutions and that she was left knowing the Mr Z, with a history of violence, was due to be released from prison and had spoken about "going to get his son".

The council made no suggestions about how she could keep herself and the child safe.

Although Mr Z's risk had been considered at a multi-agency meeting, there was a lack of clarity about what information should be shared with Ms X.

The mother went on to complain to the ombudsman, which stated: "The investigator's findings were fair. It is likely Ms X suffered distress from the failings the investigator identified. She did not have access to the same information about Mr Z that the council or other services did, which meant she needed help to make decisions about risk management.

“She did not receive this help when the council told her about the risk. The council did try to advise Ms X afterwards. However, it sent this advice to the wrong email address. Ms X did not receive it for over a month.”

The council was found to be "at fault for the way it disclosed information (to the mother) about the risk from her adopted son's birth father" and has agreed to apologise and pay a "symbolic payment" of £400 for distress caused.

But the view held by the council that the risk posed was "primarily the police's responsibility" was not unreasonable, the ombudsman found.

The ombudsman found no fault on the part of the council regarding other aspects of the mother’s complaint, namely that they had failed to share information with Mr Z’s mental health team, or that they withdrew adoption support.