Animal Welfare Professionals

Does any one have a template for declining a foster applicant handy?

We have a foster applicant that per another partner organization has a  history of giving away foster pets and harassing adopters.  Just looking for a good way to decline that we can add to our tool kit for this situation and future times. It happens so rarely, we haven't a good template yet.

#FosterPrograms

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Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter
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Here is my template! 

"Hey Applicant,

Thank you so much for your interest in fostering with All Kind. Unfortunately we are unable to accept your application due to REASON, but there are still other ways you are able to help the homeless pets in our community! We offer a "Dog Day Out" program which allows you to take a dog out of the stressful shelter environment for a day of fun and we are always needing help  with volunteers! I would be happy to direct you to either of these programs and if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them! 

Dog Bless,"

Hope this helps!:)

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Kaylee Philipp
Foster Coordinator
All Kind Animal Initiative
TX
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Hello Tessha,

Although we do not have a foster program here, we do have an adoption program where they receive a foster-to-adopt period. In circumstances where an individual wants to adopt and we have reports of conduct not supporting the shelter policy,  we deny them the opportunity. In this case; what we would say or give on paper is:

"Dear so and so,

Due to an anonymous, confidential report of behavior that is not conducive to our shelter policy, we are denying you the ability to foster (or adopt) at this time. If you have any questions, please contact such and such."

We've found keeping it short and simple is the best way to keep the "drama" to a minimum. We do not go into details about the report to prevent the reporter any backlash or issues. Let me know if you have any questions!

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Holly Packman
Canine Manager
Headwaters Animal Shelter
MN
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The program at our local shelter requires 3 references that the potential adopter/foster gives. Are you getting references, or just send the message to people you state above? Thank you for your assistance in advance.

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Tammy Duffy
Animal protection officer
Elbra's Dream
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2024 08:32 AM
From: Holly Packman
Subject: How to politely decline a foster applicant

Hello Tessha,

Although we do not have a foster program here, we do have an adoption program where they receive a foster-to-adopt period. In circumstances where an individual wants to adopt and we have reports of conduct not supporting the shelter policy,  we deny them the opportunity. In this case; what we would say or give on paper is:

"Dear so and so,

Due to an anonymous, confidential report of behavior that is not conducive to our shelter policy, we are denying you the ability to foster (or adopt) at this time. If you have any questions, please contact such and such."

We've found keeping it short and simple is the best way to keep the "drama" to a minimum. We do not go into details about the report to prevent the reporter any backlash or issues. Let me know if you have any questions!

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Holly Packman
Canine Manager
Headwaters Animal Shelter
MN
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This is a hard one because we're always begging for foster families. It sucks when we have to tell someone no. 

Our denial is very generic, which is know is not too helpful for the applicant. However,  we have two other Bulldog rescue groups in the same region. We've learned that if we tell an applicant exactly why they've been denied, they go to the next Bulldog group and lie about that particular element. For instance, if we deny an applicant for a crappy vet check, they'll apply with another rescue group and claim they don't have a pet. 

Now that I write that..... maybe I shouldn't worry as much about the other group. It's really on them to determine an applicant's integrity.  Oy. Again, I struggle with this one. 

Here's our denial template: 

"Thank you for your interest in fostering a Bulldog, but we have determined that we cannot proceed with your application at this time. 

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Deirdre Jack
Lone Star Bulldog Club Rescue
dfwbulldogrescue.org
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We have multiple different decline options regarding students, outside pets, people who may be too young, etc., however this seems like a unique situation. I feel like in this instance it's completely fair to decline them based on the fact that as a rescue, although the foster is in their care, it is your job to ensure that the values that you hold are taken into account and based off of prior experiences with them, you are therefore unable to make sure that the values are in alignment and unfortunately you can't allow them to foster. Or you can always just say at the moment, we don't have any animals that would be suited to the environment that you will provide. 

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Kenni Kennedy
President
The Kennedy Puppy Foundation
CA
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Hi!

I recently had to decline a foster. It sucks because we desperately need fosters, but this woman started communications by peppering us with questions and talking about how she would do home checks and how she would stay in touch with adopters and follow up with them. She had just started volunteering at a municipal shelter and was still quite judgmental about their procedures. I told her that I didn't think she was a good fit for us at this time since we cannot guarantee that our adopters would like to be in touch with our fosters, and I encouraged her to continue at the shelter and really see things from their perspective before she started fostering, or starting her own rescue which was her goal. 

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Amanda Gray
Grants and fundraising manager
Operation Liberation
FL
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