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  • 1.  Foster Coordinator Capacity/Role expectations

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 09-16-2024 05:24 PM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hello, 

    I'm looking for some examples of foster coordinators defined responsibilities, compensation  Some direct questions I have are if they are expected to foster animals that don't find placement, are they compensated for fostering?  Do they handle all fosters from transfer pitches, intake, and handle the return process? Is this a role that you hire for internally more often than externally, and how frequently does this role have turnover? Do you have a foster phone and what are the expectations around afterhours communication and compensation for afterhours communication?  I'd also like to hear from organizations that have multiple foster coordinators, at what point did the role expand into multiple humans vs one. Do you have foster coordinators for specific needs i.e. Adult Dog Foster coordinator vs Neonatal Coordinator or are foster coordinators covering multiple animal species and care needs in your organization. 

    Thank you for your insight! 


    #FosterPrograms


  • 2.  RE: Foster Coordinator Capacity/Role expectations

    Posted 09-17-2024 09:18 AM

    We are just expanding to 2 foster coordinators with the goal of having 400 foster families and the facts that we are overcapacity at the shelter and trying to buy our time until our new building is built.  They are definitely NOT expected to foster animals that don't find placement as that would be ridiculous and way too much pressure - they have enough in this role already from the demands of the fosters themselves.  We have had the same foster coordinator for over 13 years now.  Our foster coordinator has a cell phone but is not expected to answer calls after hours.  If a foster has a true emergency call after hours, they contact our dispatch line and our ACOs triage with help from our on-call veterinarian.  The foster coordinator handles all species since it ebbs and flows as to what animals are in need of foster placement.  Our foster coordinator promotes animals for foster thru our closed Facebook Foster Group as well as by email / phone to specific fosters for specific animals (i.e. Foster X does post-op recovery only).  Hope this helps! 



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    Jennifer Federico
    Animal Services Director
    Wake County Animal Center
    NC
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  • 3.  RE: Foster Coordinator Capacity/Role expectations

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 09-17-2024 10:18 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Thank you for your response! When you say 400 foster families, are those all active with animals in the home or just trained fosters waiting on standby? We handle less than 600 animals in foster each year, we're trying to gauge the capacity of the single foster coordinator. 




  • 4.  RE: Foster Coordinator Capacity/Role expectations

    Posted 09-17-2024 09:53 PM

    Our goal is to 400 active homes and grow the number of animals we have in foster.  For reference, with the one Foster Coordinator, we have on average 1500 animals a year that go through our foster program and about 220 foster homes.  



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    Jennifer Federico
    Animal Services Director
    Wake County Animal Center
    NC
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  • 5.  RE: Foster Coordinator Capacity/Role expectations

    Posted 09-18-2024 06:44 AM

    That is amazing! I am about 2 years into my position as foster coordinator, my numbers are no where near there, but working on a faster application, onboarding process so I do not loose applicants that are interested early on, but by the time they go through orientation do not end up fostering. I am hoping with a faster on boarding process I can have more dogs in foster care at a time. Right now I am averaging about 15 dogs in foster care at any given time. 



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    Kellie Jordan
    Foster Coordinator
    Tallahassee Animal Services
    FL
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