TWO children were left to be neglected by their mother for four years because Nottingham City Council failed to carry out proper assessments, a new report says.
Both suffered "significant neglect" because their mother was unable to look after them, says the Local Government Ombudsman report.
The council now says it "regrets" any "upset" to the family and has been ordered to pay each child £5,000 compensation and £1,000 to their grandmother, who first complained.
The ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin, said: "In this case the council failed in its statutory duty to act first and foremost in the interests of the children, by pursuing a strategy for four years of attempting to support their mother to look after them."
She added that the authority failed to carry out proper assessments of the children's needs or monitor how good the support they did get was.
In 2005, before her first child was born, the mother, who has severe learning difficulties, was assessed by the council as being unable to look after children without considerable help.
For legal reasons the report identifies the family only as "Miss M" (the mother), "child one", aged eight, and "child two", six.
According to the report, the council repeatedly tried to use the same strategies with the family, despite the mother being often "indifferent and sometimes hostile".
One of the children suffered injuries while in their mother's care.
It also mentions "Mrs G" – the grandmother, whose complaint against the council led to the report – and "Mr F" – Miss M's partner until January 2009.
The report describes how in 2006 nursery staff were concerned how child one "wore the same clothes day after day" and smelled of urine.
It adds that both children were put on the child protection register by the authority, but it decided in December 2007 that Miss M could look after both and there were no concerns of neglect.
The council's involvement with the family then ended.
But in 2008 the grandmother reported cuts and scratches on child one to the NSPCC.
According to the report, police then raised concerns about the impact on the children of domestic violence, substance misuse, neglect and reports of possible non-accidental injuries.
The report adds that police then suggested a child protection medical, but the council declined.
When the children were eventually taken into care in 2009, they spent a year with foster carers outside their family, and had no contact with the grandmother for their first seven months, despite previously having regular contact.
The grandmother had been willing to care for the children, but the report says the council tried to block her attempt to become their carer by challenging independent assessments of her.
A court granted the grandmother special guardianship of the children in July 2010, since when, the ombudsman says, they have thrived.
Besides the compensation, the ombudsman also requested that the council reviews its policies.
The council said the grandmother raised concerns about her grandchildren's care and put herself forward as a potential carer – but because the mother refused to allow her children to be cared for by her, they were not legally in a position to go against the mother's wishes.
Councillor David Mellen, the city council's portfolio holder for children's services, said: "This is a case where we persevered for too long with efforts to help a mother remain as the carer of her children. However, there were periods of improvements in care by the mother which were identified by all the key agencies involved.
"When matters deteriorated, we instigated child protection processes and brought the matter before the scrutiny of the court, with the benefit of an independent children's guardian.
"Ultimately, the council recommended to the court that the grandmother should be given guardianship of the children, which was granted.
"We are committed to maintaining high standards for the care and safeguarding of children and have made huge improvements since 2005 when we first became involved when the first child was born.
"We acknowledge the ombudsman's findings and we can reassure people that we have already implemented improvements which address the ombudsman's concerns. We regret any upset caused to the family."
