Should I email my SW's supervisor?

[jwinct]

The last time I emailed my SW to check in was on July 6th and this was the response I received:

I do not know when your file will be reviewed. Your file was the last of the studies I handed in on 6/3/15 after receiving the fingerprint results. My supervisor reviews all of the files (entire binder and background checks included). She has several other social work staff besides me to supervise.

Once she reviews, she usually will give it back to me for revisions (questions, comments that need to be answered). I then make correction and resubmit. Once she rechecks and signs it, it is given to our manager for review and approval. Once she approves it, you are officially licensed.

It's out of our SW's hands at this point, so do you think it would be unreasonable for me to email the supervisor and let her know that we started this process on February 4, 2014 and ask if there's anyway to expedite the review of our homestudy? Maybe I'll email our SW to check in again and if I get the same response, I'll email her supervisor. This is getting to be beyond frustrating.

[casarosada]

I might e-mail your caseworker one more time asking if she has heard back from her supervisor and mentioning how long the process has taken for you. I would either copy the supervisor on that e-mail or send an e-mail to the supervisor if your caseworker hasn't received the reviewed file back yet.

It is so frustrating when things like this are out of your hands and you can't do anything to speed it up.

[jwinct]

Thanks. I sent a quick email to my SW a little while ago, asking if there's been any movement on our homestudy. If she responds and says it hasn't been reviewed yet, I'm going to email her supervisor.

[ceejay]

I don't think it would hurt to email and check on the status of your homestudy. It's not always helpful to put "pressure" on people (by asking to have the review expedited)... depending on their personality, they may or may not respond well to that.

But sometimes just politely asking for a status update (on a regular basis) can help things along. If it was me, I would email the supervisor every 2 weeks and ask for an update. Eventually she might get annoyed with receiving the regular emails and make it a priority to get your homestudy approved.

Sorry you've had to wait so long! Sounds like a very frustrating situation.

[twocents6708]

I used to be a licensing worker and I always tell people that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" in child welfare. I don't mean this to say that your worker only pays attention to people who make a fuss nor that harassing people gets your way. However, when people check in, it puts it at the front of the worker/ supervisors mind when they have a million things on the to do list. But I can't imagine a home study taking over a year ... That's crazy! I would say that it would be your best bet to email the worker asking about status and copy the supervisor as well.

[jwinct]

Jul 30, 2015 11:29:19 GMT -5 twocents6708 said:

I used to be a licensing worker and I always tell people that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" in child welfare. I don't mean this to say that your worker only pays attention to people who make a fuss nor that harassing people gets your way. However, when people check in, it puts it at the front of the worker/ supervisors mind when they have a million things on the to do list. But I can't imagine a home study taking over a year ... That's crazy! I would say that it would be your best bet to email the worker asking about status and copy the supervisor as well.

Thanks. I'm going to start checking in more often.
And, just to clarify - they haven't had my homestudy for over a year. We started the overall process over a year ago.


My SW emailed me back and said she hasn't received any feedback yet, so I emailed her supervisor this:

Hello (Supervisor),

I'm writing to check on the status of my homestudy review. I understand that (SW) turned our homestudy in for review at the beginning of June and I completely understand that you have many others to review and that the process takes time.

However, it has been 18 months since my husband and I attended the open house and started the process to obtain our foster license. The amount of time we've had to wait between each step in this process has been quite frustrating and discouraging. We were especially frustrated when we found out that my fingerprints had never been processed 5 months after I'd had them done.

This is our timeline of events so far:

February 4, 2014 - Attended the open house and completed the initial application/background check forms
June 23, 2014 - Had our first home visit and high-level interview
November 17, 2014 - Started the TIPS-MAPP class
December 22, 2014 - Signed the official application and was fingerprinted
April 6, 2015 - Graduated from the TIPS-MAPP class
May 5, 2015 - Found out that the fingerprints were never submitted for processing
May 7, 2015 - Went to the DCF office to be fingerprinted again
June 3, 2015 - Homestudy was turned in for review

As I said before, I completely understand that you supervise multiple social workers and have many homestudies to review, among your many other responsibilities. But, if there is any way to expedite the review of our homestudy, we would greatly appreciate it. My husband was in foster care as a child, so this is very near and dear to our hearts.

Thank you.

[twocents6708]

The process still shouldn't take that long. I am glad that you laid it all out for the supervisor and are advocating for yourself. Here's hoping that it is completed soon...VERY soon!

[akafred]

This is similar to what happened with us. Actually you've waited a lot longer. Our whole process was a little over a year. We sent the application in early March, started classes late summer, then were told throughout the fall that it had been submitted and was waiting for the supervisor. Truth was it was never even actually written. We started really pushing after Thanksgiving, emailing the supervisor, director, all the way up to the state head. Turns out there was an audit that the licensing department failed miserably and every single person was laid off or reassigned to another unit. Once the new people were in, it was just a couple of months to approval. We were active late March.

[casarosada]

I think your e-mail sounds great. Hopefully they can speed up the process on their end! Ah, inefficiency and slowness when I can't do anything to speed it up drive me crazy.

[shemarie82]

jwinct, Have you heard back from the supervisor?

[jwinct]

Aug 3, 2015 10:45:03 GMT -5 shemarie82 said:

jwinct, Have you heard back from the supervisor?

Nope.

[pinkie]

Unless the supervisor is on vacation, I think you deserved a response by now. Even if it's just a message that they are looking into it. I'm sorry this all seems ridiculous to me. It's bad enough when agencies are non responsive for domestic infant adoptions but for foster cases it is crazy to me that they are taking so long. There are kids who I'm sure are waiting for homes!

[jwinct]

I just forwarded my email to her and asked her to confirm that she received it. I changed the subject of the email to be a little more grabby, too.

I don't want to seem like a pain in the ass, but this is ridiculous.

I didn't get an out-of-office message when I emailed her, either time, so I'm assuming she's not on vacation.

[teraiin]

Any news?

[jwinct]

Aug 5, 2015 9:07:41 GMT -5 teraiin said:

Any news?

No, and I'm starting to get really aggravated!

If she's on vacation, I would think she'd have an out-of-office reply set up on her email, but who knows. I emailed her Thursday and forwarded the email to her again on Monday, and the subject of Monday's email was "Request to Expedite Homestudy Review."

[casarosada]

Hav you tried calling? How frustrating that they are just not replying to your emails!

[jwinct]

Aug 5, 2015 11:27:36 GMT -5 casarosada said:

Hav you tried calling? How frustrating that they are just not replying to your emails!

I haven't tried calling yet. I think I'll give her until next week, in case she is on vacation, and then I'll call. I don't want to get put on the "giant pain in the ass" list that might keep me at the bottom of the pile.

[Bayou]

I was sure hoping you would have heard something by now jwinct

[Bayou]

jwinct, still nothing? I thought about you this morning and wanted to come check in!

[jwinct]

Aug 12, 2015 11:29:52 GMT -5 Bayou said:

jwinct, still nothing? I thought about you this morning and wanted to come check in!

Thanks for thinking of me. I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't called yet and I know I should. Maybe I'll have my husband do it. LOL

[pinkie]

You should call and not apologize for checking in! You have waited way too long!!

[jwinct]

Our case worker appears to be back from vacation, so I just emailed her to check in one more time to see if she's gotten any feedback yet regarding our homestudy. If she says no, I'm going to call her supervisor - and I won't apologize, I promise!

I emailed my class today to check in. So far, one of the other families has responded saying they received their license a few weeks ago and have already been included in 2 teamings, but were not selected. I have to admit, I was insanely jealous when I read her email. If we'd been licensed, we might have also been included in some teamings already!

What the heck is a teaming, you ask?
When there is a child that is low to medium legal risk - meaning DCF thinks there is a good chance that the child will not be returned to their family (see below) - that is in need of placement in an adoptive home. These kids are usually already in a foster home. They look at the child's criteria and then the central DCF office then pulls all of the adoption registration forms, across the entire state, that match the child's criteria. The child's case worker (and I forget who else; I think it's one other person from the central office) looks through all of the files of the families that match the child's criteria and then select who they feel are the top 5 best families for that child. If your family is selected, your case worker calls you and tells you everything they know about the child and asks you if you want to be considered for possible placement. If you say yes, then you and four other families' homestudies will be distributed to a committee. The committee will have a week to review all the homestudies before the "teaming" - where they all get together and vote to decide which family will get selected for the placement.

Here's specific information about the low and medium risk levels:

Low Risk – Termination has been granted, but termination order has been appealed
Medium Risk – Case is filed in court, but hearing is contested, and a series of continuances is expected.

[Bayou]

jwinct hopefully you get a response from case worker PRONTO! Please know that I'm thinking of you and hoping you get this handled quickly!

[Captain Serious]

I hope you hear something positive back soon!

[twocents6708]

I hope you hear back soon. Way to have such patience! We have been waiting on a response on our initial paperwork and to schedule a home visit for 3 weeks now. Our worker is also on vacation and I haven't heard response from the supervisor either. This waiting business is no fun and it's just the beginning!

[jwinct]

Thanks, everyone. My SW is usually pretty quick about getting back to me, so as long as she really is back from vacation, I expect to hear back from her today.

One other family emailed me and said they also received their license a few weeks ago, so it sounds like they're making some progress, at least.

One thing that gets me is that our SW was so excited about us and wanted us to get licensed quickly. She told us that we were ideal foster parents and basically that they'd be clamoring over us once we're licensed. While that's flattering, it just sucks that, after telling us all that, she couldn't (or didn't?) do anything to push the review along more quickly.