Animal Welfare Professionals

We are entering into our strategic planning time and one of the things we are considering is how to conduct an assessment of our foster program network to improve the number of active foster homes.  Has anyone out there already done this type of research?  Where could I find published data on the information to conduct a literature review or sorts?

Even if you have not been able to conduct this in depth analysis of your network, have you learned any lessons anecdotally?  Are there improvements you've made that has increased your active network?  

My biggest concern with this type of assessment, when not done thoughtfully, is the negative impact on staff's time.  They really need to be able to focus on execution and day to day job duties and I don't want this type of large scale research to create more work for them. 

#FosterPrograms

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Brittany Schott
Board Member
Second Chance Pet Adoptions NC
NC
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Maddie's has a lot of great resources about foster recruitment if growth is your focus. As far as assessing how well your program is functioning as is, foster and staff feedback surveys are very easy/quick to implement and SO HELPFUL for providing a sense of direction and priority areas of improvement. Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here. With satisfied fosters equalling solid retention, we were able to send out way more animals because seasoned caregivers know the drill and take up fewer staff resources to make things happen.

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Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com
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Yes!  I combing through all the great resources on Maddie's now.  I do think we want to conduct some level of survey.  I think our concern may be that if you are not an active foster but you were previously, you are not likely to respond to a survey.  What audience did you target?  

The links in your response sentence will not work for me, but I would love to see some sample questions or outcomes you gained by conducting the survey!: Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here

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Brittany Schott
Board Member
Second Chance Pet Adoptions NC
NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:11 PM
From: Rachel Jones (she/her)
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Maddie's has a lot of great resources about foster recruitment if growth is your focus. As far as assessing how well your program is functioning as is, foster and staff feedback surveys are very easy/quick to implement and SO HELPFUL for providing a sense of direction and priority areas of improvement. Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here. With satisfied fosters equalling solid retention, we were able to send out way more animals because seasoned caregivers know the drill and take up fewer staff resources to make things happen.

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Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com
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Ooh I've found former fosters often have the most to say (not always nicely or gently but feedback is feedback 😆 ). Here are some screen grabs from the 2019 and 2020 reports I linked. Not sure why they're not showing up. Questions from the report below as well. We posted a link to the survey (and pinned it) in our foster Facebook group and sent it out in a mass email to everyone in our foster database (volgistics) and got a good number of responses both years.

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Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:18 PM
From: Brittany Schott
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Yes!  I combing through all the great resources on Maddie's now.  I do think we want to conduct some level of survey.  I think our concern may be that if you are not an active foster but you were previously, you are not likely to respond to a survey.  What audience did you target?  

The links in your response sentence will not work for me, but I would love to see some sample questions or outcomes you gained by conducting the survey!: Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here

------------------------------
Brittany Schott
Board Member
Second Chance Pet Adoptions NC
NC
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:11 PM
From: Rachel Jones (she/her)
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Maddie's has a lot of great resources about foster recruitment if growth is your focus. As far as assessing how well your program is functioning as is, foster and staff feedback surveys are very easy/quick to implement and SO HELPFUL for providing a sense of direction and priority areas of improvement. Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here. With satisfied fosters equalling solid retention, we were able to send out way more animals because seasoned caregivers know the drill and take up fewer staff resources to make things happen.

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Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com

I think it is a google doc firewall on the network I am using.  I am going to log on again on another network today and try again!  This is great information!  Sounds like we could benefit from a similar idea/approach. 

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Brittany Schott
Board Member
Second Chance Pet Adoptions NC
NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:35 PM
From: Rachel Jones (she/her)
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Ooh I've found former fosters often have the most to say (not always nicely or gently but feedback is feedback 😆 ). Here are some screen grabs from the 2019 and 2020 reports I linked. Not sure why they're not showing up. Questions from the report below as well. We posted a link to the survey (and pinned it) in our foster Facebook group and sent it out in a mass email to everyone in our foster database (volgistics) and got a good number of responses both years.

Survey Questions:

1. Are you currently a foster caregiver?
2. How long have your fostered for PACC?
3. What kind of animals do you/have you fostered?
4. How satisfied are you with your current experience?
5. Free Form Question: Can you explain your rating?
6. Have you noticed any changes to PACC's foster program in the last year?
7. Free Form Question: If yes, what changes have you noticed?
8. Free Form Question: What struggles do you currently face as a foster caregiver?
9. Free Form Question: What do you like most about PACC's current foster program?
10. Free Form Question: What do you like least about PACC's current foster program?
11. Do you feel you need more help, resources, info, etc than you're currently receiving?
12. Free Form Question: In what ways do you feel you could better be supported?

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Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:18 PM
From: Brittany Schott
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Yes!  I combing through all the great resources on Maddie's now.  I do think we want to conduct some level of survey.  I think our concern may be that if you are not an active foster but you were previously, you are not likely to respond to a survey.  What audience did you target?  

The links in your response sentence will not work for me, but I would love to see some sample questions or outcomes you gained by conducting the survey!: Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here

------------------------------
Brittany Schott
Board Member
Second Chance Pet Adoptions NC
NC


Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2024 12:11 PM
From: Rachel Jones (she/her)
Subject: Has anyone conducted research for foster program improvement?

Maddie's has a lot of great resources about foster recruitment if growth is your focus. As far as assessing how well your program is functioning as is, foster and staff feedback surveys are very easy/quick to implement and SO HELPFUL for providing a sense of direction and priority areas of improvement. Issuing simple satisfaction surveys through Google Forms once a year took PACC from here to here. With satisfied fosters equalling solid retention, we were able to send out way more animals because seasoned caregivers know the drill and take up fewer staff resources to make things happen.

------------------------------
Rachel Jones
Shelter Consultant
www.rachelattheshelter.com

We typically have really good success using the Fast-15 survey through Maddie's! They work with UNC-Charlotte to create the survey and it takes very minimal staff time to use. They come up with all the questions and compile all the results; all you/your staff have to do is send it out & remind people to take it. It stays open for a month, I think, and the results are multi-faceted. You'll get an overall score of your program, plus a breakdown score of different areas (foster's voices, foster's role clarity, etc.), a word cloud of how the fosters feel the program is (they're asked to choose one word to describe it), and lastly there's a section for them to anonymously provide short answer/free-written style feedback. We send it out to our entire foster pool, whether or not they've been active recently/in the past/ever. As others mentioned in a different response, some of the feedback can be a little harsh, but in my opinion that's the type of feedback that I find most useful. The important part is keeping your fosters updated on the results of the survey and what areas you'll work to improve, and how you're planning to improve, then, of course, following through. 

Short of using the Fast-15, I'll throw my vote in for google form surveys! Ask your fosters what's working, what's not working, what barriers they face to continue fostering, what suggestions THEY have for improvement, etc.  

Good luck!

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Evie Schenkel
Foster Care Manager
Asheville Humane Society
Asheville, NC
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Hi Brittany,

These studies may be helpful:

• Foster Turnover Research
• Foster Market Research
• New research shows how to best engage more diverse communities in the pet fostering process 
• Exploring Foster Programs and Their People, Management and Leadership Challenges

 If you like, you can also fill out this form and I'll do a free general program assessment with some recommendations.

Also dropping a link here to the FAST-15 foster survey, and my email in case you'd like to chat more: duer@maddiesfund.org.

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Kelly Duer
Senior Community Solutions Specialist
Maddie's Fund
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