Stage 2, If you don't like your sw?

[Bitchfromhell]

We've been assigned a new sw for stage two. We've got along great with everyone so far and have been hugely impressed by our la up until now.

On Friday we had our first meeting with the new sw and neither of us took to her. Found her cold, rude and judgmental. Not all of the time, she cracked a smile about twice in 3 hours. But mostly we got the vibes that she didn't like us much and was prepared to make this process as tough as she could.
She's hugely experienced, much more so than the last one. I am clinging to this as a positive.

I've felt disappointed and strangely vulnerable since her visit.

I wondered if anyone had had any similar experiences and how you handled it? Tia

[luckylucky24]

Friends of ours have had the opposite problem.

Their SW was nice enough but absolutely useless. Delayed things so much for them and they have never felt they could say anything - partly as the manager of team doesn't care.

I would give her another chance and see how you feel.

[donquixotedelamancha]

I really didn't like our allocated SW at the start of stage 2. She's a bit blunt, the process itself is a bit awkward at the start and mostly I was being a judgmental git.

She has been with us through two adoptions and is one of the best people I know. She is lovely, clever, hard working and we simply couldn't have done the process without her. She got us through tough times with a rubbish LA and reigned in my bolshiness about the frustrating bureaucracy. For our second adoption she did our training and meetings in the evenings so we got approved in 2 months. My first impression was very wrong.

With hindsight having someone pushy and straight talking was a huge help. They need to ask nosey questions, they need to probe, you need to be able to be honest with them. Give her a chance.

[Bitchfromhell]

Thank you both. This is exactly what I needed to hear.
I feel that out of all of them so far, she's the one that I'd trust to get the match right. In so much as some of them, I think, would have just gone with the first children available. This one seems very in depth and thorough, which is great. Although I get the feeling she wouldn't place a goldfish with us at the minute.