Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello!

I am coming into a shelter and completely revamping our foster program. It's in desperate need! Can anyone share their foster manuals for adult dogs and cats so I can get ideas? Thank you so much! 

#FosterPrograms

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Olivia Clark
Alternative Placement Manager
The Humane Society of Harford County
MD
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Hi Olivia, 

We have a few folders in our resource library here on the Forum that includes a variety of foster manuals shared by community members that you can explore! Here are links to each of the folders:

• Cat Foster Manuals - https://maddies.fund/catfostermanuals
• Dog Foster Manuals - https://maddies.fund/dogfostermanuals
• Foster Manuals for Cats or Dogs - https://maddies.fund/fostermanualscatordog

On Maddie's University, we also have an entire collection of courses and resources that cover the fundamentals of running a successful foster program, including data collection and how to run many different types of foster programs: https://maddies.fund/foundationsoffosterprogrammingcollection

I hope these will help give you a place to start with revamping your foster program! 

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Charlotte Otero
Community Strategist at Maddie's Fund
she/her
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Hi Olivia, 

Check out this HASS Toolkit! It's a comprehensive guide on Foster Programming and includes job descriptions, document templates, data collection considerations, technology options, and more. 

Best of luck in this endeavor! 

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Jenifer Reed
Maddie's® Human Animal Support Services Program Implementation Trainer
AmPA!/HASS
TN
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Thank you, Charlotte and Jenifer, for sharing those links! I'm not sure if our foster volunteers are given a training guide when they start, but I think one would go a long way toward foster volunteers-especially new ones-feeling supported and secure that there's a resource that can give them the answers they need when they need them instead of waiting on someone else for a reply. Any tips on what info is crucial to include in a foster manual?

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Stef Mates
Seminole County TNVR
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Great question! 

Here are some ideas of the types of content you may include: 

• Introduction to foster staff (or whichever team members they'll be interacting with) & contact information
• Do's & Don'ts (i.e. what to do in an emergency, how to handle adoption inquiries, dog park policy, what to do if you need behavior advice, etc.)
• Tip sheets (housebreaking/litterbox training, basic training, etc.)

Here are a couple of great examples of online foster manuals/info sharing:

• Austin Pets Alive! Dog Foster Resources Webpage
• Pima County Foster Resources Webpage

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Jenifer Reed
Maddie's® Human Animal Support Services Program Implementation Trainer
AmPA!/HASS
TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2024 08:51 AM
From: Stef Mates
Subject: Foster Manuels

Thank you, Charlotte and Jenifer, for sharing those links! I'm not sure if our foster volunteers are given a training guide when they start, but I think one would go a long way toward foster volunteers-especially new ones-feeling supported and secure that there's a resource that can give them the answers they need when they need them instead of waiting on someone else for a reply. Any tips on what info is crucial to include in a foster manual?

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Stef Mates
Seminole County TNVR
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