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  • 1.  Community Conversations - 1/23/23 - Foster Solutions

    Posted 19 days ago
    Updated 1/23/23 at 2:20pm - Recording now available to watch on-demand! 


    We hope you will join us     on Monday, January 23, 2023 at 11am PT for our next Community Conversations call. 

    We will be joined by @Kelly Duer, Senior Community Solutions Specialist at Maddie's Fund for a presentation on Foster Solutions! Is your shelter or rescue full, or close to it? In this presentation, we'll look at successful techniques organizations around the country are using to place pets in foster homes and move foster pets on to permanent homes more quickly.

    Register here for our Monday Community Conversations Calls: https://maddies.fund/CommunityConversationsRegistration

    If you are unable to make it live on Monday, this thread will be updated with the recording and resources so you can watch and share whenever you'd like. After you watch the recording or attend the call, be sure to complete this January entry form to enter to win up to a $10,000 grant: https://www.maddiesfund.org/weekly-community-conversations-jan23-giveaway.htm


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    #FosterPrograms
    #MarketingandSocialMedia
    #OrganizationalManagement

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    Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 2.  RE: Community Conversations - 1/23/23 - Foster Solutions

    Posted 15 days ago
      |   view attached

    • We had a few questions about foster training in the chat that I wanted to make sure to address-
      • Research has shown that the single most important factor in foster retention is fosters feeling they've been adequately trained. This can be done in a way that's low-barrier and simple for staff.
      • Some organizations are creating quick trainings that are automated and completely online, so they can be taken at any time and don't necessitate more work from foster staff. You can see some examples here and here.
      • I'd recommend that most orgs have two ways to do training so that it is accessible to more people, and can be done on the spot. Checklists with topics to discuss can be really helpful here.
      • One way organizations are providing more self-serve information for fosters is online foster resource pages and boards. Check these out:
      • From what I've seen there isn't a standard training requirement for Foster to Adopt, but you can see examples of documents from several programs here.
    • There was a question about foster manuals that could be used as templates-- yes, there are quite a few here in our resource library!
    The slides from today's presentation are attached.

    If anyone is interested in chatting further, I'm available to meet with you anytime to brainstorm solutions, troubleshoot, answer questions and connect you with foster resources. If you'd like to meet, you can can pick a time on my Calendly, and I'll add the Zoom link as soon as it creates the invite: https://calendly.com/duer/fosterconsult  

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    Kelly Duer
    Senior Community Solutions Initiative Specialist
    Maddie's Fund
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    Attachment(s)

    pptx
    Foster LOS.pptx   27.05 MB 1 version
    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Community Conversations - 1/23/23 - Foster Solutions

    Posted 15 days ago
    Thank you.  You presented a lot of useful information and resources that I need to go digest.  Someone in the chat commented that they do a foster program with prison inmates.  I was wondering how many other groups have similar programs and what were the challenges and successes.

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    Gwen Harding-Peets
    Volunteer, TNR, foster, board member
    PANT
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Community Conversations - 1/23/23 - Foster Solutions

    Posted 15 days ago
    Oh, that is such a good question! I'd love to hear from others who have programs like these. Here are a few resources you may want to check out:

    Classroom foster at San Diego Humane Society (18 min. video)

    Library Cat foster program at Rusk County Pets Alive! (video)

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    Kelly Duer
    Senior Community Solutions Initiative Specialist
    Maddie's Fund
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Community Conversations - 1/23/23 - Foster Solutions

    Posted 15 days ago
    Thanks to the 324+ people who attended today's call live. The recording is now available to watch or share on-demand: https://youtu.be/WruV4HK6DW4

    After tuning in, don't forget to complete the giveaway entry form to increase your chances of winning up to a $10,000 grant from Maddie's Fund: https://www.maddiesfund.org/weekly-community-conversations-jan23-giveaway.htm

    Here's a recap of today's call including the resources that were shared and thanks to our presenter @Kelly Duer for sharing her presentation slides. 

    Agenda
    • Welcome - Co-hosts
    • Mary Ippoliti-Smith, Executive Leadership Team, Maddie's Fund, on the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit – a beautiful, meaningful tradition. And how painful and tragic are the mass shooting targeting the Asian community in Monterey Park, CA this past weekend. People in our organizations and communities may be experiencing pain, fear, trauma from this tragedy. Let's create some time and space for them to grieve and process.

    National Updates

    Presentation: Foster Solutions by Kelly Duer
    Is your shelter or rescue full, or close to it? In this presentation, we'll look at successful techniques organizations around the country are using to place pets in foster homes and move foster pets on to permanent homes more quickly.

    Related links:

    I also saw a question in the chat about foster manuals! Here are links to example foster manuals that are available to download in the Maddie's Pet Forum Resource Library:

      Highlights From The Chat
      • "We had a particularly cold weekend in Nashville and we put out a call for fosters to "get dogs and cats out of the cold" (we do Crisis Foster Care). Because of the extreme weather event, we had more responses than ever before!" - Gabe Horton
      • "We offer adoption trials for all our cats and connect one on one with the adopters which has helped keep cats in their adoptive home after finalizing" - Amanda Gray
      • "We started doing foster to adopt due to delays in spay/neuter or limited staff to do adoptions. I wish we would have started to do this sooner" - Shelley Joaquin
      • "We are foster based rescue. We officially implemented Foster to Adopt program and call adoptions "Foster Success". We did this after analyzing our statistics and learning that 68% of our adoptions were with their fosters." - Kriss Harrigian
      • "This is my first meeting! Definitely helpful!! will be watching every Monday " - Rachel
      • "I've already sent 2 ideas to my team!!" - Kelly Furnas


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      Charlotte Otero
      Community Strategist at Maddie's Fund
      she/her
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      Original Message


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