Just that really! Finding it difficult to get anything concrete from them in terms of contact etc.

Please tell me how you find them?

Sorry I'm not sure what it is you want to know.

Can you give a bit more info?

Anything, the way they were with you. Respectful?

I am not finding communication with them easy.

Hi SimpleAs, I think social workers are just like every other profession, ie some are good and some are awful and just occasionally I have come across a few fantastic ones.

I have found that the younger ones are not as jaded as a rule.

Could you have a chat with your support/link worker perhaps?

I don't know who that is.. how could I find out?

How long have you been fostering? Usually carers have a designated social worker sometimes called a supervising social worker sometimes a link worker.

That person will be the one who visits you every 4-6 weeks. They won't be the childs social worker just yours.

I'm not fostering, i'm a relative who'd like to foster a cousin who's been taken into care but is not having v much joy with social worker at all.

Contact is hard enough, I can't see they'll ever be organised to sort out care.

Ring the area team office and ask to speak to a manager. Tell them that you're having difficulty with the social worker.

Good luck

I would agree with SimpleasABC. All Social workers are different. First of all I would contact your local social services and ask them who your designated social worker/link worker is. It is normally the person who has done your assessment if it was recent.
I would then ask for email address as social workers tend to work out of office or from home but still pick up emails I have found communicaton much easier this way.
Also when child is placed you should have been given the placement information record which would normally have details of contact.
A meeting is normally held within two weeks of placement and issues such as this could be raised then.
You could also ask social services for a planning meeting.
Sometimes arrangements contact arrangements can be a bit vague at first when a child is placed as the child may have been removed in a hurry and social services have to sort court dates etc out. There first priority is to get the child in a safe placement and everything else takes a back seat but you should have contact details of at least two social workers - yours and childs.
hope this helps.

Hi I was busy responding and didnt realise that you are not currently a foster carer. I would agree and call office manager.

Good luck

I have and can never ever get a hold of her. On occasion she does phone back eventually (but not always).

I tried phoning the person beyond her and they couldn't really help. I got the impression that they wouldn't unless I was making a formal complaint.

how much contact do you have already? Can you ask to attend the review meeting (one after a month in care and then six-monthly after roughly)

One hour per fortnight. Used to be one hour per week, ie the last time they were in care.

I'm really frustrated.

Whats the meeting which takes place every 21 days?

If you think you have grounds then maybe you should make a formal complaint?

Im worried it would affect what little contact we do have with the children as it is the social workers who supervise it.

I've only just spotted this - if you're still having issues then look at www.frg.org.uk, brilliant website run by the family rights group providing advice for the families of children who are in care.