Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi all- wondering what protocols are for other shelters when a foster parent won't return your calls or emails.

• How many times do you try to reach them?
• Do you finalize the adoption to them at some point? After how long with no contact? If you do this, do you send a warning email advising this will happen, and what does that email say?
• Do you send someone to their house to take the dog?

Thanks for any ideas that are working in your shelter!

#FosterPrograms

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Alexis Pugh
Director, Memphis Animal Services
www.memphisanimalservices.com

Organizational Management
& Pet Support Services Specialist
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Hey Alexis!

This can be SO Frustrating! Although it doesn't happen often, we do have a "Compliance Schedule" for what we do if a foster parent ghosts us. Hopefully this is helpful. We are a municipal shelter and per our ordinance, we cannot adopt out pets that aren't sterilized, and we don't offer foster to "ready to go" pets, so for us...I think if you are able to adopt out to noncompliant fosters that would be amazing! Anywho, we ask our fosters to come in every 2 weeks for re-checks with our team (get an updated weight, if they're due for any boosters, and to get them scheduled when ready for surgery). So, if they go past that 14 day mark, here's our schedule of events:

• Day 1-14 Foster in Compliance
• Day 15-21 Follow Up Call & Follow Up Email (document these in our data mgmt. software as well)
• Day 22-28 Follow Up Email & Mail Out Letter to Foster Parent's home
• Day 29-35 Follow Up Call Each Day & Qualify for a Home Visit (I go to the foster's home with another staff member to attempt to retrieve the pet or leave a notice at their residence that they are out of compliance)
• Day 36-45 Follow Up Call
• Day 49-Mark Admin Missing in our System

Most of the time, when they receive the letter mailed to their home with our county letterhead, that prompts them to come in...if that doesn't then going to their home definitely does. We average hundreds of pets in our foster system a year and I think last year we only marked 3 admin missing. Let me know if you want copies of our "Noncompliance" and/or "Sorry We Missed You" letters. We also mark any noncompliant foster as a DNF meaning Do Not Foster going forward. They're welcome to still adopt from us but are no longer eligible to foster.

Good luck!

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Sarah Sukhram
Vol. & Foster Coordinator
Pasco County Animal Services
Land O' Lakes, FL
https://www.pascocountyfl.net/408/Animal-Services
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This has only happened once that I can remember. We did have to go to the house to retrieve the pet. It has happened that fosters have been very lax in getting back to us, so we will email, call and text until we get a response. That usually works just fine. Thankfully, most fosters are really good at communication, we have that built into our training. Curious to hear what other foster programs have had to do. 

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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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