Complaints by and for Children

If you are a child and want to complain, your foster carer, social worker, Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO), advocate or any other trusted person can help you make a complaint, or make a complaint on your behalf.

Your complaint will be taken seriously and you won’t be in trouble if you make a complaint.

The person who the complaint is about will not be involved in the investigation of the complaint.

How and what will happen should be explained to you so you know what is going to happen.

Any action agreed should be explained to you.

Remember it is your right to complain if you are not happy about anything.

Your foster carer/social worker/IRO/advocate will guide you about what is a complaint and what could be an allegation and a safeguarding matter.

If you want to make a complaint about the fostering service, see: How Can I Make a Complaint against the Fostering Service.

It is important not to confuse complaints with allegations although there is sometimes an overlap. Any concerns in relation to a child who may be in need of protection must be dealt with under the West Midlands Regional Safeguarding Procedures.

• The foster home/people in the fostering family;
• The Fostering Service;
• The Local Authority including the child’s social worker;
• Something outside of this, like the child’s school/educational setting.

As a foster carer your role is to:

• Listen to the child, take them seriously and try not to be defensive about what they are saying;
• Tell others like the child’s social worker or your Fostering Social Worker as it is important to be open and share information promptly to resolve issues;
• Try to help the child sort out the problem;
• Advocate (speak on their behalf) for the child where appropriate, depending on their age, stage of development and understanding;
• Help the child to access the formal complaints procedure for the Fostering Service or their local authority;
• Ensure that they get feedback on what happens.

Most issues can be sorted out informally and speedily through discussion with either the child's Social Worker or your Fostering Social Worker, depending on what the problem is. Sometimes, the Fostering Service's Manager may be the most appropriate person to speak to about the concerns.

Stage 1 - Local Resolution:

At Stage 1, Once a complaint has been received and it has been determined that the complaint falls under the children’s representations and complaints policy, an Investigating Officer will be identified and the Complaints Team will log the complaint and acknowledge receipt with the complainant within 3 working days. The complaint should then be passed to the Manager with responsibility for the services provided to the child. The Manager will look at the complaint, and provide a response to you and the child, including what will be done to resolve the complaint. The Manager may arrange to visit you and the child to discuss the complaint.

The initial attempt to resolve matters must be made within 10 working days of receipt of the complaint, unless an extension is required or an advocate is being engaged. Extensions for a maximum of an additional 10 working days (i.e. 20 working days in total) are allowed.

The expectation is that the majority of complaints should be considered and responded to at Stage One.

Stage 2 - Investigation:

If after Stage 1 you and the child are still unhappy, you can ask that the complaint be investigated further by someone who is independent of the service area you have complained about. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the Stage 1 response then the Complaints Team will inform the Complaints Manager. The complainant has 20 working days to request a Stage 2 investigation from the date of the Stage 1 response.

Stage 2 investigations are undertaken by an Investigating Officer who may be employed by the local authority but who does not manage the service or person against whom the complaint is being made.

An Independent Person who is not employed by the local authority must be appointed for every Stage 2 investigation to work alongside the Investigating Officer to provide an independent and objective view of the investigation. They will produce a report for the Service with their findings of the investigation and any recommendations on how to sort out the complaint.

The Investigating officer / Independent person will conduct an investigation, referring to the investigator’s good practice guide, Annex 2 of the statutory guidance, and provide a report to the social care Adjudicating Officer who will carry out the adjudication and write a response letter within 25 working days from the date on which the written complaint was received.

Stage 3 - Review Panels:

Most complaints are sorted out after Stage 2, but in some cases, if you and the child are still not happy you can ask for the complaint to go to a Review Panel. This request must be made within 20 days of the adjudication letter. The Complaints Team will confirm to the complainant that this will proceed to Stage 3.

The Complaints Manager will convene a Stage 3 panel within 10 days. Stage 3 panels consist of an independent chair and two independent panel members, none of whom can be employed by the Local Authority or have a close personal connection with an employee of the Local Authority.

By day 30 a panel meeting will be held. The panel will consider whether the complaint was properly investigated, whether the report has a clear logic and whether the evidence presented supports conclusions and recommendations made at Stage 2. The Panel will focus on the complainant’s desired outcomes, with a view to a resolution.

After the Panel meeting takes place, the Panel must produce a written report including recommendations to the Director within 5 working days of the Panel. The Director has a further 15 working days in which to respond to the complainant on the Panel’s recommendations.

For full details of Herefordshire Council’s complaints policy and how to make a complaint visit:

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and Ofsted

At all stages, complainants will be given information in writing about the next steps available to them if they remain dissatisfied.

For local authority complaints you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if you remain unhappy.

LGSCO contact details:

Website: Online Complaint Service 
Telephone: 0300 061 0614

Address:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

With regards to Fostering Services with either a local authority or Independent Fostering Agency you can contact Ofsted if you have continued concerns about the service.

Complaints may be made to Ofsted as the Regulatory Authority. Their contact details are:

Ofsted
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester
M1 2WD
Tel: 0300 123 4666
E-mail: CIE@ofsted.gov.uk

Click here for information on how to complain to Ofsted about a provider they inspect or regulate.

Click here for the online complaints form.

However, Ofsted will not be able to consider any complaints until this internal Complaints process has been fully completed.

You can also contact the Children's Commissioner for England.