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I think it is really varies for each case. For our son, our cw was his cw's supervisor. We made a point of meeting our cw in person once she was assigned to us and went to an adoption picnic to get to know some of the cw's in the department. I know that picnics and such are meant to get to know kids, which we did, but we also felt it was good to meet the cw's. We thought it would be easier for them to match us if we were more than a case file. (In our county, a one department trains and writes hs and another matches familes. A third works with ongoing (foster) cases.) We also tried, if we could, to phone any cw's we sent our hs to.
I think the final selection depends as well. We went to committee 3 times. We were one of 3 for our son, one of 10 on another and one of 5 on the last. In each case I think that 50-100 hs were received. Obviously we were choosen for our son, and we withdrew right before the committee on the others since we had already been matched with J. Since we were matched within our own county, we were able to request the cw who wrote our hs as well as our cw to attend the staffing since we couldn't be there.
But all of this really depends on the agency you work with. I know things differ from county to county, much less state to state. My advice would be to get to know how your agency works and then branch out from there. Before we innundated our cw with requests to send out our hs, we met with her to get a feel of how she works. Would it be better to call or e-mail? Which states are the best to work with? How often should we follow-up once a hs was sent? That type of thing.
I can remember being where you are now. There are so many unknowns. Your doing great by asking questions here, but don't feel bad about asking your cw once you start looking.
Blessings,
Jenny
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