Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello! 

I am a foster coordinator for a local municipal shelter. This year we are really wanting to engage with our foster base more and really build up a community. Originally my thought was to create a private Facebook group for our fosters to share cute stories and photos, create foster events, etc. however our county board has instructed us that we are not allowed to create a Facebook group for the foster program. 

I am looking for advise on other ways to really create that community feel, get fosters involved, and a way for them to get to know each other. Or any advise on how to get your county board to agree to a facebook group lol

Thanks in advance!
#FosterPrograms
#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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August Hutchins
Foster Coordinator
Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center
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We asked a handful of our longterm, more advanced fosters to help us coach new fosters.  When someone needed help getting a scared cat to adjust or they had someone who needed a refresher on bottle feeding, we knew who we could reach out to and connect them.  They continue to talk long after the initial question, and it helps some of those fosters who might stop if they do not get enough communication.


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Laura McKelvey
Shelter Manager
PAWS Atlanta
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That's so unfortunate because we use a FB group, and it's very successful. Not just for the fosters but the social team collects content from it, and the animal care team can read about behaviors they might not see in the shelter. Overall, it's a truly helpful resource. Why are they against a Facebook group? I ask because their reasoning might help us better brainstorm with you. Google Chat now has a collaboration tool. I haven't used it yet, but that might be something worth looking into.

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Stacy Clark
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To be honest they have not given us a real concreate reason as to why. They say they are concerned about branding issues and that any information on social media needs to be done by the counties communications team but they handle all county issues and won't create a group for us. Originally they said that if one of our fosters wanted to make a private group that they wouldn't interfere but we had a foster make an instagram for her fosters and they had her shut it down because they said that she could not represent the county or something. Just a lot of bureaucratic red tape.

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August Hutchins
Foster Coordinator
Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-26-2023 07:16 AM
From: Stacy Clark
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

That's so unfortunate because we use a FB group, and it's very successful. Not just for the fosters but the social team collects content from it, and the animal care team can read about behaviors they might not see in the shelter. Overall, it's a truly helpful resource. Why are they against a Facebook group? I ask because their reasoning might help us better brainstorm with you. Google Chat now has a collaboration tool. I haven't used it yet, but that might be something worth looking into.

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Stacy Clark
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Perhaps they aren't aware you can create a private FB page that only members (i.e., fosters) can view the contents? Fosters would request access and you or someone would grant access and you can remove people who stop fostering. So it can be a very small group and very specific and not public. Would that help?

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Linda Lea
Big Bones Canine Rescue
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-27-2023 06:22 AM
From: August Hutchins
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

To be honest they have not given us a real concreate reason as to why. They say they are concerned about branding issues and that any information on social media needs to be done by the counties communications team but they handle all county issues and won't create a group for us. Originally they said that if one of our fosters wanted to make a private group that they wouldn't interfere but we had a foster make an instagram for her fosters and they had her shut it down because they said that she could not represent the county or something. Just a lot of bureaucratic red tape.

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August Hutchins
Foster Coordinator
Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-26-2023 07:16 AM
From: Stacy Clark
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

That's so unfortunate because we use a FB group, and it's very successful. Not just for the fosters but the social team collects content from it, and the animal care team can read about behaviors they might not see in the shelter. Overall, it's a truly helpful resource. Why are they against a Facebook group? I ask because their reasoning might help us better brainstorm with you. Google Chat now has a collaboration tool. I haven't used it yet, but that might be something worth looking into.

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Stacy Clark

This is what we had to do at our shelter! It has worked well. When people receive their "accepted" foster care app response , we advise that they will be receiving an invitation to Slack and also that they can request to join our FB group. On the group, they have to respond to a question regarding being an accepted foster applicant through our shelter, and then we just decline anyone who has not completed that.

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Vanessa Brown
Foster Care Coordinator
Vanderburgh Humane Society
Evansville, IN
812-426-2563, ext 210
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-27-2023 08:44 AM
From: Linda Lea
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

Perhaps they aren't aware you can create a private FB page that only members (i.e., fosters) can view the contents? Fosters would request access and you or someone would grant access and you can remove people who stop fostering. So it can be a very small group and very specific and not public. Would that help?

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Linda Lea
Big Bones Canine Rescue
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-27-2023 06:22 AM
From: August Hutchins
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

To be honest they have not given us a real concreate reason as to why. They say they are concerned about branding issues and that any information on social media needs to be done by the counties communications team but they handle all county issues and won't create a group for us. Originally they said that if one of our fosters wanted to make a private group that they wouldn't interfere but we had a foster make an instagram for her fosters and they had her shut it down because they said that she could not represent the county or something. Just a lot of bureaucratic red tape.

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August Hutchins
Foster Coordinator
Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center


Original Message:
Sent: 01-26-2023 07:16 AM
From: Stacy Clark
Subject: Foster/Volunteer engagement with social media

That's so unfortunate because we use a FB group, and it's very successful. Not just for the fosters but the social team collects content from it, and the animal care team can read about behaviors they might not see in the shelter. Overall, it's a truly helpful resource. Why are they against a Facebook group? I ask because their reasoning might help us better brainstorm with you. Google Chat now has a collaboration tool. I haven't used it yet, but that might be something worth looking into.

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Stacy Clark

We use the Group Me App for fosters at Raining Cats and Dogs Shelter.  It is private and only fosters have access to it.  They share photos, ask questions, get to know each other and bond.  Group Me is free and we have had great success with it.  We tried Facebook originally but found our members were adding "friends" who were not fosters and it was too hard to control.

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Laura Santo
Director
Raining Cats and Dogs Shelter and Sanctuary
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Hi August, 

That is a bummer that you cannot use a Facebook group as a way to engage your fosters as that usually is a great way to do so. However, another option that you could try would be Doobert's FosterSpace module. Within it, you could invite all of your fosters to join, assign animal profiles to them, and then keep them engaged by sending out Mass Announcements. Those announcements could be foster-specific (dog fosters/cat fosters/etc.) or you could do just as you mentioned, send photos and stories about animals needing a foster or how they are doing, or create polls to gather some further interest, etc. 

Hopefully, this helps! 

I've also included one of their videos that specifically highlights their announcements topic. 

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Kimberly Ruiz
Project Coordinator
Doobert
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