Hi everyone!
My name is Amy and I've worked as an Animal Care Technician at my organization for about two years now, and just recently accepted the position of Foster&Rescue Coordinator. In my two years here, I've seen three Foster/Rescue Coordinators come and go. They each had their own way of doing the job, as well as their own ways of organizing/keeping track of things. It seems as though none of them got around to fully implementing their own protocols; rather, they sort of built on top of whatever was done previously, in a way that may have been decipherable to them, but not so much to anyone else. I've found myself with a messy, complicated, WAY outdated Excel spreadsheet to keep track of foster homes (name, contact info, who they're willing/able to foster, etc), + a file cabinet with much the same info. To keep track of scheduling vaccines/weight checks, there's a regular old month-by-month wall calendar (that in my opinion, is far too small to accommodate adequate info/notes). I've only been in this position for a couple of weeks, but already I feel like I'm floundering around just trying to keep track of everything!
I'd like to do a complete overhaul of the program as well as it's organization, and have been given permission to do so. At this point, I'm not even sure where to begin or what direction to go! Does anybody have a stellar Foster program model they could share with me? For reference, we are an open-admission shelter, caring for ~3,500 domestic animals per year. At this point in time, I have about 15 families currently fostering animals (mostly kittens), with ~20 families able to foster if needed. I've been slowly trying to implement Maddie's Pet Assistant, hoping that eventually that can be the main tool, but it may take awhile for that transition to be in place, +getting each and every foster home on board with it.
I will be attending the Foster Program Apprenticeship in Charleston next month which I am sooo looking forward to! Hopefully that will answer a lot of my questions here. But until then, any tips/advice/input from you guys would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you!
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