Our shelter has this program as well, although I'll admit its on a very small scale and placement is totally based on foster availability. Currently we are consistently able to place cats and small dogs, but usually not able to place large dogs. In our program we intake it as an owner surrender, we have paperwork for the owner that discusses pet temperament, secondary contact, who can NOT be contacted (usually cases of domestic violence), timeline expected, owner's plan for coverage after end date is reached, our max coverage is 60 days on paper, but many times we have exceeded this, which is one reason the program is small, and its totally depending on the circumstance and up to the foster or if I can find a next foster to determine how long we can extend. There is a 45 day grace period built in as well, if we don't hear from owner with plans to pick up the animal towards the end of the 60 days (or whatever timeline they specified originally) the paperwork explains their animal will be considered surrendered at the end of the 45 day grace period, before and during which we will have attempted contact to all contact info available. We do require that they let us spay/neuter/update vaccines on their pet if unaltered/out of date to participate in the program, we handle all communication/photos of pets to owners, we do not give out owners or fosters contact information. Thankfully we have a couple other groups doing this (but on the down low) and one group that helps unhoused people and offering pet fostering/assistance as well so we are usually able to refer homelessness cases with large dogs to that organization.
Would love to hear what others are doing to get more fosters involved in this specific type of fostering and increase RTO!
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Niki Flanagan
League for Animal Welfare
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-04-2024 02:12 PM
From: Leah Bocanegra
Subject: Temporary fosters for owned pets- keeping pets and families together
I love these types of programs. How does this work from the liability stand point, IE do the owners officially surrender to your care and your insurance would cover them as animals in your custody? I also would be interested in how the timeline is established. IE do you have a set amount of time before the pet is considered surrendered vs temporarily housed or is it situational.
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Leah Bocanegra
Managing Director
The Happy Pet Project
TX
Original Message:
Sent: 02-03-2024 07:51 AM
From: August Hutchins (They/Them)
Subject: Temporary fosters for owned pets- keeping pets and families together
Hello,
My shelter offers temporary foster for owned pets for citizens dealing with domestic violence, homelessness, medical issues, etc. We are working to revamp this program this year. I was wondering if any other shelters offer this type of service for citizens? If so, do you have any advice for increasing RTO's, finding fosters, and example documents?
Thanks!
#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)
#CaseManagement*
#Diversity,Equity,InclusionandJustice
#FosterPrograms
#PetSupportServices*
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August Hutchins (They/Them)
Foster Coordinator
Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center
Tampa, Florida
813-272-1157
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