So it is almost 7 months since we had our LID and with the huge delays I am looking back on the entire process of getting to our LID. There are many things which I regret that I did not push to happen faster but at the time everyone was saying 9 months to referral so it did not seem like a big deal. Now that we are looking at a 20 month wait those same things are an irritant because it means even more months added on to our wait.
The delays started with the first visit to our local social worker. We walked through the door and had our first appointment and handed her all of the info that we knew was required and she says "Wow, usually I spend the first session explaining to my clients what they need to do and the documents they have to have for my home study."
The rest of the session was really a waste because we had already had everythign that she needed sitting in front of her so she proceeded to ask us questions covered in the questionare that she had sent us and we had already filled out.
Then we had to wait for our next appointments because she was soooo busy.
Finally we had all of our appointments taken care of, and she told us she would get us our home study by Friday. Well Friday came and went, and then the next Friday came and went.
And so on....
Finally after several weeks and multiple e-mails and phone calls the draft of the home study arrives. Several things are incorrect so I make changes and send it back for her to finalize the document.
And then we waited....
She returns it to me with none of the changes done. So I once again send her the corrections.
And then we waited...
Finally we got the final home study and we finished authenticating\certifying the document.
Then we waited for our LID of September 12, 2006.
The total of this time (not of our making) is probably 3 months.
Factor this by the current delay in processing referrals and this equates to over 6 months added wait time that we would not have had if certain steps in the paperchase were handled more efficiently by our social worker.
Next time (if there is a next time) she will find that I will not be likely to give any slack in getting things done.
Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.
