South Ayrshire Social Care Partnership is criticised over long delays to family's kinship care assessment

South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership has apologised to a family for the lengthy delay in progressing their kinship care assessment.

Ayrshire Live can reveal that the organisation was placed under scrutiny by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) following a complaint made against them.

According to the SPSO, the HSCP failed to progress a kinship care placement “timeously” and they failed to take “reasonable steps” to facilitate family contacts for a child at the centre of the case.

Ayrshire Live has learned that the process to finalise kinship care took “several years.”

The child’s name has been redacted by the final SPSO report and is known only as ‘B.’ The complainer was known as ‘C.’

SPSO papers said: “C complained on behalf of their relative (A) and A’s child (B) about the health and social care partnership, of which the council administered the complaint investigation. B was removed from A’s care. Following a short period of kinship care by B’s grandparent, they were placed with foster carers. C and their partner applied to be B’s kinship carers as soon as B was taken into care. However, they were not made B’s kinship carers until several years later.”

According to SPSO papers the complainer said the partnership had 'unreasonably delayed' the process in assessing their kinship care application.

C also complained that there had been “failures” to facilitate B’s contact with their family, to address concerns about B’s foster carers, to provide them with support following B’s kinship care placement and to provide “specified information.”

And the partnership accepted that there had been delay in assessing B’s kinship care and "identified learning" from this.

The SPSO report continues: “We took independent advice from a social work adviser. We found that there had been a failure to progress the kinship care placement timeously and to take reasonable steps to facilitate B’s family contacts. We also found that there had been a failure to provide specified information.

“We upheld these complaints. However, we found that there had not been a failure to address concerns about B’s foster carers or to provide C with support following B’s kinship care placement. We did not uphold these complaints.”

In conclusion, the SPSO said the HSCP should apologise to the complainer and their family for the failings “identified” and provide them with an explanation on why there had been “undue delays” in completing the kinship care assessment.

A spokesperson for the South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership said: “The Health and Social Care Partnership have accepted the findings of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) decision report. This matter relates to practice between 2016–2020, which the HSCP have acknowledged was unacceptable. We have apologised to the family for these historical delays and have invested in significant improvements in our Kinship processes since this time.

“These improvements include investment in the creation of a Kinship Team and improving governance arrangement on timescales. In addition, the implementation of a new model of practice “Signs of Safety” and “The Promise” ensures that families and children are at the centre of decision making, meaning wherever possible, children are kept safe and within loving relationships which are important to them.”

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