Animal Welfare Professionals

Our shelter does not do fosters for adult cats currently, but I would love to start at least with a pilot program. It would be really beneficial to either our long term cats or the cats that don't do well in the shelter. Our system with dogs involves the foster bringing the dog to the shelter for adoption appointments and doing them on site but that isn't so easy for cats, especially the ones more likely to be in foster, since travel and changing environments takes a lot longer for them to get used to and is more stressful for them. I know a lot of shelters will train their fosters to do at home adoption appointments but I just worry about keeping them safe when strangers are coming into their homes. How do you all do this, or is it something that I'm over thinking?

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#FosterPrograms

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Laurel Nelson
Feline Welfare Supervisor
Nebraska Humane Society
NE
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Good morning, Laurel 

We are a cat rescue without a physical shelter so are 100% foster based. Unless the foster caretaker personally knows the adopter we absolutely do not allow this, for all the safety reasons you can imagine and more. We have the foster caretaker bring the cat to one of our partner pet stores and meet with the adopter that way.  

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Diane Metz
Board of Directors, Volunteer, and Foster Mom
Orange Street Cats, Inc.
Albany NY
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I am a long-term cat foster and have always had potential adopters come to my home.  I personally have never had an issue however your concern makes sense.  I have always had another person in the home when they came -- usually my husband but sometimes friends.  I wonder if there might be some protocols already developed for people like relators (particularly women) that show houses alone that might be the basis for some policies and procedures for home visitation. 

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LAURA REESE
President
Professional Animal Welfare Services
SC
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Our organization is  entirely foster based, we have never had a problem with adoptions out of the home, all adopters are vetted, some fosters prefer to take the cat or kitten to the adopters home, we have never had a problem with this either.

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Pamela Hodermann
trapping coordinator
Urban cat coalition
WI
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We have a really large list of fosters, especially during kitten season and we give them the option to do adoptions and meet & greets at their home, or to bring the cat or cats to our rescue location. We have never had an issue as we help screen the applicants and if the foster ever wasn't comfortable, they are always more than welcome to meet the potential adopter at our rescue.

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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I mostly foster neonatal kittens and meet potential adopters at the shelter when it's adoption time. I have had people come to my home to meet adult foster cats. I always have another person here with me as I am not comfortable with strangers in my home. Unfortunately, most adult cats get pretty stressed being transported and taken back to the shelter. They just don't show well. There other option that I have used is doing a foster return with good foster notes and the option to re-foster them if they aren't adopted within a day or two. I have never needed to re-foster a cat. I feel the foster return is the best for my safety. If the rescue does not have a physical shelter, I feel that there should be at least one other person at the meet and greet if home based. Be safe!

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Vicky Smith
Foster
Pima Animal Care andControl
AZ
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We are a 100% foster based rescue and all visits are done directly to the home of the foster unless the foster chooses otherwise. We screen all adopters prior to visiting, and only approved adopters are invited to visit kitties they might be interested in, and if they click they can then take them home.

We have some fosters that do not feel confident and usually ask that one of us be there for the meetup as well to make sure if questions are asked someone can answer them, but this is something that we note during our initial conversations with fosters where we discuss what the adoption process is like and ask them if this is ok, and if not, we note down their preferences.

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Alma Reynoso
Administrative Director
Purrfect Catpanion
NJ
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Our shelter just recently started sending adult cats out to foster. We have the foster bring in the cat to the shelter to meet approved adopters. So far every cat has been adopted right out of the meet and greet, and no cat has had to return to the shelter or to foster. Our fosters prefer not to have to do the work of adoptions themselves. We have a very small foster base so it works out for us to do it this way. 

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Erin Robinson
Foster Coordinator
Licking County Humane Society
OH
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We worry about safety and harassment, so we have everyone meet at the shelter, even with cats.  If the cat most likely will not settle in well, we may ask that the cat is dropped off 2-3 days before the appointment to give them time to settle back in.  We will also offer, if both parties are willing, to do a video meeting before the in person meeting, so that the adopter can get better information and possibly even see how different the cat is in the home.  We do struggle more with cats, but it has been worth it.  We never have cats that stay in our shelter long now that they can all go into foster.

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Laura McKelvey
Shelter Manager
PAWS Atlanta
GA
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I'm a new foster based rescue.  Love hearing your thoughts on this issue.  

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Denise Sherwin
Secretary/Treasurer
Kittens without Mittens Rescue
WY
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-24-2024 04:33 PM
From: Laura McKelvey
Subject: Keeping Foster Parents Safe During Adoption Appointments

We worry about safety and harassment, so we have everyone meet at the shelter, even with cats.  If the cat most likely will not settle in well, we may ask that the cat is dropped off 2-3 days before the appointment to give them time to settle back in.  We will also offer, if both parties are willing, to do a video meeting before the in person meeting, so that the adopter can get better information and possibly even see how different the cat is in the home.  We do struggle more with cats, but it has been worth it.  We never have cats that stay in our shelter long now that they can all go into foster.

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Laura McKelvey
Shelter Manager
PAWS Atlanta
GA
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We are a cat rescue and like others, we are 95% foster based. We do have some of our cats/kittens at a local cat cafe and a Petsmart. Most of our adoptions are done out of our homes. However, we do have a couple of partner pet stores where meet and greets can be done.  I prefer to do them from my home so the potential adopter can see the kittens true personality and not a scared kitten or one that just spent 30 minutes traveling in a car.  I haven't ever had any issues. If after talking with someone that I don't feel comfortable with. I will ask for someone to come over during the visit.

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Corinne Forzano
Fundraiser Director
Billy the Kidden Rescue
VA
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Hi! You could also consider encouraging foster caregivers to conduct virtual meets and if all goes well the potential adopter could pick up the cat (from a location that everyone feels comfortable with like the physical shelter location or meeting in public) and do a trial adoption period. 

Best of luck!

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Jenifer Reed
Maddie's® Human Animal Support Services Program Implementation Trainer
AmPA!/HASS
TN
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