Cheshire East Council has been criticised after it nearly had a mother’s children taken into care without proper evidence, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
The council acted after the hospital raised concerns following the traumatic birth of the mother’s second child, citing alleged poor mental health and a history of domestic abuse.
Despite no evidence supporting these claims and the older child’s school reporting no welfare concerns, the council began care proceedings, putting the family through significant distress.
Ombudsman Ms Amerdeep Somal concluded the council made life-changing decisions without proper assessment or evidence.
The council has since apologised, agreed to pay the mother £350 for the uncertainty caused, offered £4,000 for the events, and will implement lessons from the case to improve future processes.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: 'We have offered a sincere apology to the individual affected and fully recognise the distress this situation has caused.
'In response, we proactively carried out a learning review and developed a comprehensive action plan to address all the issues identified. The Local Government Ombudsman described the review as thorough, holistic and well-balanced, with a clear focus on the key factors that contributed to the faults in this case.'
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