Animal Welfare Professionals

Some of the most powerful impacts in animal well-being don't happen through long stays or permanent placements. They happen with temporary, safety net fostering that keeps pets with people, out of the shelter, and supported through moments of crisis.

Safety net fostering provides options for short-term care for pets whose families are facing challenges like hospitalization, housing insecurity, domestic violence situations, economic hardship, or emergencies. Sometimes the goal of our work isn't adoption, but rather providing solutions to set families up for success. These programs help keep families together, prevent unnecessary surrenders, and ease pressure on shelter capacity while offering invaluable support to both pets and their people.

We Want to Hear Your Stories: When has temporary or safety net fostering (even just a few days or weeks) made a real difference for a pet, person, or community?

Whether it helped a pet stay with their family through a crisis, a nervous or stressed animal decompress and thrive, a shelter manage capacity peaks, or a foster caregiver discover the joy of short-term support, share your story below!

By participating in this thread in February or March 2026, you'll be entered into our two-month giveaway! One random participant will receive $1,000 in unrestricted funds to support your organization in whatever way will make the greatest difference.

Temporary care isn't "just a few days", it's a lifeline that makes pet retention, shelter efficiency, and community care possible. We can't wait to read your experiences!

Looking for more ideas, examples, or support? These community conversations, conference recordings, foster connection meetings and resources offer space to learn, and hear directly from others building safety-net and temporary foster programs.

• Community Conversations - Pets and People: Safe, Together and Connected with BestyBnB

• Human Animal Support Services - Crisis Sheltering for Pets: Keeping People and Pets Together

• Foundations of Foster Programming Collection - Safety Net - How-to's and examples of programs that provide temporary care for pets whose owners are in crisis, but who would like to keep their pets in the long term

• Urgent care: Preserving the human-animal bond (How-to for safety net foster programs) via Toronto Humane Society

• 5 Tips for recruiting safety net fosters (blog)

• Safety Net Foster at Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village (13 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Ruff Haven (24 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Animal Rescue League of Iowa (15 min. video)

• HASS Wednesday Summit: Safety Net Foster Research (57 min. webcast)

• Maddie's Insights: Emergency Fostering During the Pandemic: Takeaways for a post-pandemic world

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Fostering Recovery

• Join CNN Hero Stephen Knight to learn how Dogs Matter supports recovery by providing temporary foster care for pets, offering hope and healing for people and their beloved animals.

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Co-housing Solutions in Domestic Violence Sheltering

• My Dog is My Home: Co-Sheltering / Co-Housing 101: A Review of Different Models

Some of the most powerful impacts in animal well-being don't happen through long stays or permanent placements. They happen with temporary, safety net fostering that keeps pets with people, out of the shelter, and supported through moments of crisis.

Safety net fostering provides options for short-term care for pets whose families are facing challenges like hospitalization, housing insecurity, domestic violence situations, economic hardship, or emergencies. Sometimes the goal of our work isn't adoption, but rather providing solutions to set families up for success. These programs help keep families together, prevent unnecessary surrenders, and ease pressure on shelter capacity while offering invaluable support to both pets and their people.

We Want to Hear Your Stories: When has temporary or safety net fostering (even just a few days or weeks) made a real difference for a pet, person, or community?

Whether it helped a pet stay with their family through a crisis, a nervous or stressed animal decompress and thrive, a shelter manage capacity peaks, or a foster caregiver discover the joy of short-term support, share your story below!

By participating in this thread in February or March 2026, you'll be entered into our two-month giveaway! One random participant will receive $1,000 in unrestricted funds to support your organization in whatever way will make the greatest difference.

Temporary care isn't "just a few days", it's a lifeline that makes pet retention, shelter efficiency, and community care possible. We can't wait to read your experiences!

Looking for more ideas, examples, or support? These community conversations, conference recordings, foster connection meetings and resources offer space to learn, and hear directly from others building safety-net and temporary foster programs.

• Community Conversations - Pets and People: Safe, Together and Connected with BestyBnB

• Human Animal Support Services - Crisis Sheltering for Pets: Keeping People and Pets Together

• Foundations of Foster Programming Collection - Safety Net - How-to's and examples of programs that provide temporary care for pets whose owners are in crisis, but who would like to keep their pets in the long term

• Urgent care: Preserving the human-animal bond (How-to for safety net foster programs) via Toronto Humane Society

• 5 Tips for recruiting safety net fosters (blog)

• Safety Net Foster at Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village (13 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Ruff Haven (24 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Animal Rescue League of Iowa (15 min. video)

• HASS Wednesday Summit: Safety Net Foster Research (57 min. webcast)

• Maddie's Insights: Emergency Fostering During the Pandemic: Takeaways for a post-pandemic world

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Fostering Recovery

• Join CNN Hero Stephen Knight to learn how Dogs Matter supports recovery by providing temporary foster care for pets, offering hope and healing for people and their beloved animals.

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Co-housing Solutions in Domestic Violence Sheltering

• My Dog is My Home: Co-Sheltering / Co-Housing 101: A Review of Different Models

Some of the most powerful impacts in animal well-being don't happen through long stays or permanent placements. They happen with temporary, safety net fostering that keeps pets with people, out of the shelter, and supported through moments of crisis.

Safety net fostering provides options for short-term care for pets whose families are facing challenges like hospitalization, housing insecurity, domestic violence situations, economic hardship, or emergencies. Sometimes the goal of our work isn't adoption, but rather providing solutions to set families up for success. These programs help keep families together, prevent unnecessary surrenders, and ease pressure on shelter capacity while offering invaluable support to both pets and their people.

We Want to Hear Your Stories: When has temporary or safety net fostering (even just a few days or weeks) made a real difference for a pet, person, or community?

Whether it helped a pet stay with their family through a crisis, a nervous or stressed animal decompress and thrive, a shelter manage capacity peaks, or a foster caregiver discover the joy of short-term support, share your story below!

By participating in this thread in February or March 2026, you'll be entered into our two-month giveaway! One random participant will receive $1,000 in unrestricted funds to support your organization in whatever way will make the greatest difference.

Temporary care isn't "just a few days", it's a lifeline that makes pet retention, shelter efficiency, and community care possible. We can't wait to read your experiences!

Looking for more ideas, examples, or support? These community conversations, conference recordings, foster connection meetings and resources offer space to learn, and hear directly from others building safety-net and temporary foster programs.

• Community Conversations - Pets and People: Safe, Together and Connected with BestyBnB

• Human Animal Support Services - Crisis Sheltering for Pets: Keeping People and Pets Together

• Foundations of Foster Programming Collection - Safety Net - How-to's and examples of programs that provide temporary care for pets whose owners are in crisis, but who would like to keep their pets in the long term

• Urgent care: Preserving the human-animal bond (How-to for safety net foster programs) via Toronto Humane Society

• 5 Tips for recruiting safety net fosters (blog)

• Safety Net Foster at Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village (13 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Ruff Haven (24 min. video)

• Safety Net Foster at Animal Rescue League of Iowa (15 min. video)

• HASS Wednesday Summit: Safety Net Foster Research (57 min. webcast)

• Maddie's Insights: Emergency Fostering During the Pandemic: Takeaways for a post-pandemic world

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Fostering Recovery

• Join CNN Hero Stephen Knight to learn how Dogs Matter supports recovery by providing temporary foster care for pets, offering hope and healing for people and their beloved animals.

• My Dog Is My Home Conference - Co-housing Solutions in Domestic Violence Sheltering

• My Dog is My Home: Co-Sheltering / Co-Housing 101: A Review of Different Models