I would ask to speak to Celia herself, as in my experience the helpers don't always select wisely. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but this is my genuine experience.
Honest, I'm a huge supporter of Celia but had never homed a cat from there before and the first time I did, we had a gruesome experience, and it was down to one of her homecheckers that we were given a totally unsuitable cat to re-home.
Turns out the homechecker that came to interview me and see my home (and that took over a week to happen) decided I'd be suitable for a young cat he'd been fostering himself, although I'd specifically asked for an older female. He'd told me the specific cat I'd seen on their site, Felicity, had been re-homed the day previously (!) and that there were no other older cats suitable for my rather crowded household.
When I had to return the cat, only after both I and my hubby had been brutally savaged, heartbroken and gutted, did I speak to Celia personally who had absolutely no idea I'd been interested in an older gentle natured female, in fact she didn't know I existed. She actually took me back into the rescue and showed me two beautiful old girls who she thought would have been perfect and had been in cages for months. She was very kind and I actually felt terrible for her, but was so shaken by the whole thing I couldn't think about taking another cat at the time.
Basically, he hadn't bothered to let CHAT know he had a potential home and palmed me off with a known troubled animal, so Celia was pretty upset when she saw the damage that had been done and that she'd lost a chance to re-home one of her older cats to me.
Like I say, call the rescue direct and ask what the delay is, and don't be scared to ask to come and talk to Celia about the home you are offering. You may be pleasantly surprised, and she is just such a lovely woman.
