West Berkshire Council must pay up for foster care mistake

West Berkshire Council has been ordered to apologise to a foster family after they complained about lack of support.

The council has also been told to pay £200 compensation to the family, known as Mr and Mrs B, after the complaint was upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman.

Mr B complained about the council's involvement with a foster child who was placed with them, claiming there was a lack of support when there were problems with the child's behaviour.

The council permanently removed the child, and according to the report, did not follow proper process in considering what was in the best interests of the child.

The child, known as X as he cannot be named, went to live with Mr and Mrs B in 2010 when he was six years old. It started as an emergency placement but X stayed until 2018.

Throughout the year, social workers reported increasing concerns about his behaviour, culminating in an incident requiring the police to attend in November. X refused to return home and was placed in emergency care.

Despite increasing concerns on the part of council professionals that Mr and Mrs B were unable to care for his needs, this was not shared clearly with them.

The ombudsman concluded that once the placement had ended, and officers expressed serious and long-standing concerns about some aspects of Mr and Mrs B’s abilities as foster carers, it was the council’s responsibility to raise those concerns appropriately with them at the time.

The council must now apologise to Mr and Mrs B and pay them £200 to acknowledge the impact the failures in communication had on them.

Mr and Mrs B have since resigned as foster carers.