The story of the social worker...who was not a social worker!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted on the blog, mainly because very little has happened since we first met our social worker.

We've been waiting for the invitation to attend the first 'welcome meeting' with our LA and this is due to take place on 12th May.  I thought we would have heard something from them by now so I thought it would be useful to give them a little prod to see what was going on and to make sure that we get on that evening in May.  I know that the next one isn't until September and that's too long to wait.

I called the LA and spoke to a very helpful member of the adoption team who couldn't find our file but said she would call back.  She did about an hour later and asked where we were in the process.  I explained that we'd had our initial home visit and we were simply chasing to make sure we got on to the May welcome evening.

Then she dropped the bombshell.  The SW who'd visited us, the one we got on so well with, the one who said she hoped that she would be allocated as our case worker and looked forward to helping us find a child...was on a training placement...and that had ended...and she was no longer with them.

However, she was "sure" that we'd be on the welcome evening in May and we'd hear something approximately two weeks before the event.  Nothing yet and we're just waiting for the invitation to drop through the letterbox.

In an environment where we're expected to be completely open and honest about everything we find it astonishing that the same rules don't apply to SWs.  It's not a problem that she was a trainee, or that she's left, although it's disappointing, but we'd attached ourselves to her and felt comfortable even after our first meeting.

We live and learn but remain positive about the May event.

Let's see whether the invite arrives...