Animal Welfare Professionals

Good day; I am looking to start Cat/ Dog foster care programs with our shelter. Our shelter was a pound or kill kennel up until four months ago. Our shelter is tiny. I am a one-person operation and part-time. We have 6 dog kennels. We fill up fast and tend to stay at capacity.  Our shelter cannot hold cats. So all cats that come in are adopted, sent to a rescue, or euthanized within 4 hours of arrival time.  I believe Foster Programs could do fantastic things for the community and help so many more animals. I do not know where to start or what it takes to operate the foster program.  
Any suggestions on how to approach my supervisor on why this is a needed service and good for the City? The pound has always been a money pit for them. No one has ever seen it as a positive or the potential it could have for the community.
#FosterPrograms

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Casey AllisonFlowers
Animal Welfare Officer
City of Lexington
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Hi Casey,

I'm attaching a few resources-- one for starting a foster program, and the other has the research on why foster placement is best for pets' wellbeing. 

As Senior Community Solutions Initiative Specialist for Maddie's Fund, part of my job is helping shelters and rescue organizations build and expand foster programs. I'm happy to meet with you anytime to brainstorm solutions, troubleshoot, answer questions and connect you with foster resources. If you'd like to meet, you can can pick a time on my Calendly, and I'll add the Zoom link as soon as it creates the invite: https://calendly.com/duer/fosterconsult  

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Kelly Duer
Senior Community Solutions Initiative Specialist
Maddie's Fund
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Hi Casey,

I've included the link to our website with some resources for you to look at; HSTT. We are a smaller facility but operate a fairly large foster program. We contract with a municipal agency and share a facility with them, so we are an open-admission shelter. With that said, we also transfer a number of pets in from other shelters that are under-resourced, underfunded, and overcrowded and our foster program is how we are able to accomplish that. We also have a live release rate of 99% on average and our foster program plays a huge part in that as well. I think the biggest reason a foster program is usually needed in most shelters is to keep the population manageable and euthanasia numbers low. Foster programs also lead to adoptions (failed fosters :)), which is such a great bonus! 

Here's a link to the library resources available through Maddies; foster program resources.
There is also HASS foster Job-Alike group that you can join for presentations and webinars. Here's the link for registration, HASS Foster Job-Alike.

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Erin Ellis
Community Engagement Director
Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe

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Foster Program & Volunteer Management Specialist
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I don't have the resources really to show you how to do any of this. But the rescue I work at used to be SOLELY foster based and was very successful. Then we acquired a facility and have a shelter-like space for additional animals. If there is anything on our website that can help, or maybe you could reach out to our director, please feel free to share it. We are Homeward Trails Animal Rescue (non profit) in northern VA. But here on Maddie's Fund there is SO MUCH HELPFUL information! I have done quite a few of the lessons and I would say they are pretty accurate for the "real world". I hope this gives you some hope! Good luck!

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Nisa Katz
Homeward Trails Animal Rescue
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