[shy_bear]

work this way. The county we are going through does not assign you a worker. There is one person who handles ALL placements. We only found this out last Wed. at the adoption party we went to. We were hoping to get some face time in with the caseworkers, but it does not matter. My husband and I think it is kind of unfair, she must have her favorite family's and what if you are a family that she really doesn't like? We were encouraged in our training to go to the waiting family support groups. The cw that I spoke with at the party confirmed that and told me you want to get in "good' with *****so she will think of you!!!

[Kelly Rae]

Sorry no, our county is big and their are many workers. However that said a good reputation (being a team player)goes along way. Some examples of things that earn their respect are; leave weekly updates on children in your care ending message with no need to call, if their is a reason to call the sw make a list of a your questions so as to take up as little time as possible, get the kids to whatever dr. apt. that are appropriate,keep good notes about anything related to the child, and lastly don't be afraid top say know to a child that doesn't fit most will respect that you know your limits.

[Kate1129]

No, in our County the CW's each get a master list. Our names are alphabetical and so they start at the top (if the placement is in your criteria). We are fortunate to have a last name that starts with A!!!!

I like the alphabet way, no competition then!

[NCnewMom]

Being a "W", I don't like the alphabet way too much.

My county has 2 placement workers, and yes, it seems that they familes that they know usually get called first. Our licenceing worker did say that the placement workers are usually good about running possible placements by the licencing workers to see which of their families would be a good match. I got know one placement worker, and since then it seems we have had more calls (none have ended with any kids here, but they are still calls...) But that might just be my imagination.

[Lylac]

We only have one placement worker here, and she also has a list of what parents are looking for and places with who will be the best match. However each child has a worker that they keep through permanancy, whether it's RU or adoption

[leaabc123]

We have our own worker but there are also two people who do all the placements. They switch off every two weeks though so there is only one at a time.

One of the things we did was to give them a call and introduce ourselves and make sure they knew our info. It definitely did help the process of getting placements. When we have openings, they will call us even if it doesn't quite fit what is in the computer, which is how we got the girls.

[teachtofost]

In our county, they have a big board with all the foster families on it. It has information like what ages and limitations the family has specified. When they have a placement, they check all open families that will take those criteria and call them. Then once they have who might be a possible match, the caseworkers talk about who would be the best match.

I know that some people get overlooked when their criteria are too specific ie. infant, low risk, no health issues, no history of maternal drug use or mental illness, number of children. If you say no to too many of these in most places, you will rarely get called. If you are open to a wide range of possibilities, you get called quickly. Each time I was open for a placement, I was placed within a month and a half with an infant.