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. 

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.

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. 

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

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.

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. 

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?

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

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.

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. 

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. 

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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