Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi everyone! We have a foster to adopt program in which people can take a dog or cat home for two weeks. After that two weeks they then have to decide if 1) they want to adopt 2) they want to bring the pet back to the shelter or 3) continue to foster the pet and bring him/her to adoption events/meet and greets at the shelter. Lately I have been having a difficult time getting people to abide by the two week period or even responding to my calls/e-mails altogether. Does anyone have any advice? 

Thanks!

I definitely sympathize! It can be very frustrating when you can't get fosters to respond and keep you updated. There are two things that I found generally seem to help, particularly for first-time fosters and foster-to-adopt situations.

The first is that I give them a set day that I am going to call/e-mail, and a reason why I need to speak with them at that time. For me, that generally is Mondays, because we have a staff meeting Tuesday, and if there is any action we need to take, that is when we will be discussing it. If that won't work for this particular foster, I try to set a mutually agreed day/time for me to reach them. I think having a time and reason helps keep people from putting it off. They can even put it into their own calendar, and I will often write it on a sticky note and put it on their foster paperwork.

The second is letting them tell me what is the best contact method for them on that day, and making sure I have that preference noted if I have multiple types of contact info. Some people only ever seem to respond to text messages, others need a phone call so we can talk directly, and sometimes people who live nearby actually want to stop by the shelter. If someone doesn't respond to 2-3 attempts to reach them at their preferred contact point, then I try the others.

We recently implemented a foster-to-adopt program primarily for kittens that are too young to be fully vetted (and, following our policy, adopted). This may be different from your program because the intention to adopt is there from the get-go.

When these fosters pick up the kittens, they pay the adoption deposit fee. If for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, we would refund the fee. Otherwise, it goes towards the full adoption fee. The adoption is finalized once the kittens are spayed/neutered and fully vaccinated.

It’s been working quite well thus far. We’ve framed it more as an opportunity to adopt a younger kitten and receive extra support from us as long as they keep up with the regular communication timeline that is outlined in the foster program guidelines. 

Hope this helps!

At Austin Pets Alive!, we do pre-adoptions and trial adoptions. We do not do foster to adopts. This allows your foster coordinators to not have to track people who aren't actually fosters, or the ghosters. If you would like more information on this, you can email me at regan.goins@austinpetsalive.org