As we enter year two of a national pandemic, many animal shelters are seeing a return to pre-pandemic intake levels. Finding foster placements, where animals can thrive in a home environment, is key to reducing our in-shelter census and maintaining the best possible welfare. Whether your organization is new to foster care or has had a program for years, below are helpful tips from the experts for starting and maintaining a successful foster care program.
How to Build a Community-Based Foster Care Program from Scratch:
- Facilitate a connection between caregivers and animals in need — use technology to increase access to information and connections. Example: Maintaining a foster care list serve for new and returning caregivers. Email is a great platform for communication between the shelter and the foster caregiver, as well as between caregivers themselves to have the ability to pose questions to the community.
- Work to remove barriers when fostering. You do not need to be an expert, in order to provide foster care to animals. All you need is a desire to help animals. Example eligibility requirements are as follows:
- Be 18 years or older.
- Be willing and able to take your fosters to follow-up veterinary appointments every 2-4 weeks.
- Socialize them by holding them, playing with them, and exposing them to positive experiences.
- Feed them, clean the litter box daily (cats) or walk frequently (dogs) and keep their area clean.
- Be willing and able to access veterinary care (on-site or offsite — be sure to specify) if a medical emergency arises.
- Ideally, keep your foster pets separate from household pets for two weeks in a spare room. We will provide you with a playpen if you don’t have a spare room.
- Monitor their health daily and update us promptly about concerns.
Retention:
- Show appreciation for your current foster team
- Establish foster team social events, both in-person and virtually
- Establish a mentoring system between experienced and novice foster care providers
- Provide ongoing training and the exchange of information — roundtable discussions, Q&A sessions, etc.
- Support foster growth by providing resources to help foster caregivers gain knowledge and confidence
Example of such training: Raising Bottle Babies and Weaning Kittens and The Lion Tamers Program (focuses on under-socialized kittens, in the hopes they are able to live good lives as companion pets).
Resources and Support:
- Offer veterinary medical services through the primary organization and with a clear process for how foster care providers get assistance with medical needs.
- Create a closed Facebook group as an online community to share ideas, ask questions, etc.
- Create an Adoption Ambassador Program– Adoption team trains foster caregivers to network their kittens within different outlets-this in turn helps the adoptions team with a potentially lighter caseload.
- Provide information regarding what to do if someone finds kittens. I Found Kittens Outside, What Do I Do?
Photo provided by the ASPCA
**Thanks to Debra Olmedo, Manager, Foster and Community Outreach, ASPCA & Nadia Oseguera, Senior Manager, Foster Care, ASPCA for discussing this information during an Animal Welfare Leadership Round-Up Monday call!
To join us in these collaborative and enlightening conversations. Please register to attend (you need register only once for the recurring meetings):
- Mondays 8am PT/11am ET
This call is primarily for shelter workers, volunteers and rescue organizations - Register Here
