[ad_1]
An ombudsman has confirmed a complaint against Birmingham City Council after it considered deporting an 11-year-old girl following the death of her mother.
The girl, who was born in the UK, was considered for deportation to the country where her surviving relatives lived, despite being cared for by family friends who had applied to the council for help and financial support as adoptive parents.
After the boy’s mother died from a terminal illness, the council rejected an application from the woman who was caring for the boy for subsidies and support from a social worker, saying it was a “private arrangement.”
The local government and social care ombudsman ruled in favor of the woman after an appeal against the decision, saying the council was at fault for not granting the request, causing “injustice” to the child.
It also found that by not recognizing family friends as official adoptive carers, the girl missed the additional support and legal protection provided to the children in her care, including advice and legal representation to ensure she could remain in the UK. .
Although the girl was born in the UK, she was not a British citizen and had permission to stay in the country until December 2018. Her father, whom she had not seen since she was a baby, had been denied permission to enter the UK. United Kingdom and had refused to care for the girl when asked by her terminally ill mother.
In his report, the ombudsman said: “As a result of the actions of the City Council, [the girl] spent more than two years in a location that was legally unsafe. She was not recognized as a ‘cared for’ child and therefore the additional support and protections that come with this were lost.
“She lost contact with her only remaining relatives and was at risk of being deported due to her fragile immigration status. He lost significant sums from the trust fund provided by his mother.
“Despite his vulnerabilities and the great shock in his life after the death of his mother, his needs remained unappreciated and potentially unmet.”
Birmingham City Council agreed to pay the girl £ 1,000 for the uncertainty and anguish caused by not acting sooner to secure her legal status after the Ombudsman’s ruling.
It has also agreed to pay family friends £ 1,000 along with allowances they would have received as caretakers of “family and friends”. A payment will also be made to the girl’s trust fund to cover the cost of her citizenship application.
A spokesperson for the Birmingham Children’s Trust, which is in charge of the council’s childcare, said it accepted the ombudsman’s findings and apologized to both the plaintiff and the girl.
