frankie21
July 30, 2009 11:54
We are currently in the process and after feeling we were not relating to our social worker we requested a change. This was six months ago. They informed us they were under staffed and did not know when another social worker would become available. Just recently we received a letter from the local authority suggesting we look at other agencies as they have too many court proceeding cases too asign us a social worker until October, if there is even one available then. How can we move on in this process any quicker? We are so frustrated. Would moving to another agency benefit us any better? Would it go against us? We started our home study 11 months ago how is this fair? Are we being pushed out of the system?
Fluffy Cat
July 30, 2009 12:00
It does seem very unfair IMO. They should have indicated from the start that they might not be able to deal with your application in a timely manner. The guidelines from date of application to approval panel are 8 months I believe. I would cut my losses and look at another agency now to be honest. I know it's unfair for you to have waited 11 months for nothing, but what's the alternative? You could be waiting another year before your LA gets their act together! I doubt it would be viewed as negative by another agency. After all it's not YOU who wanted out, it's your LA who told you they can't deal with you for the foreseeable future.Good luck. I know it's pants to have waited so long and not to have got anywhere nearer to your goal.
Hoogie
July 30, 2009 13:06
frankie21 - in your position I would be tempted to cut my losses and look elsewhere. We took over 3 years from initial phone call to approval because our VA was in turmoil, understaffed, moving premises, chief exec off sick etc etc. Plus we weren't really top of their priority list because it took them ages to get us and realise we were potentially good adopters. And we weren't pushy enough. It was a horrible awful time and with hindsight we should have cut free of them and gone elsewhere. But then again we wouldn't have been in the right place at the right time for our wee boy .Can you put out feelers to other LAs or VAs to see how they would feel about taking you on, how long it would take etc, without jeopardising your position with your current LA if you decide better the devil you know?
tangerine
July 30, 2009 15:03
I would switch- you don't appear to fall into a priority group for them. Speak to them about transfering the HS this far to another authority or agency for free as the delay is not your fault.The two reasons I would suggest going are- they have pretty much told you to, if you stay they may become awkward to work withTwo It sounds like their department is in meltdown and adopting is hard enough when the team of SWs is in good order. Tangerine
301bucks
August 5, 2009 17:50
Hi Frankie,you really have to bite the bullet and change. We had something similar in the early stages (before signing up) We found that LA's we spoke with were just too bogged down they were incredibly overstretched working many cases etc whereas the VA's we spoke to weren't. There are som fantastic VA's out there, the book adopting a child by J Lord has some realy useful info on VAs which is well worth checking out if you haven't done so already.Good Luck xx
