Is fostering right for you?

Becoming a furry foster parent is a wonderful and personal way to contribute to saving the lives of homeless animals. Foster parents provide a temporary home for rescue animals who are waiting for adoption. Temporary could mean from a day to several months.

Foster homes provide the love and attention and in some cases training that make the animals more adoptable. Fostering provides a flexible way to volunteer that does not require a scheduled number of hours and itʼs a great way to enjoy animals in your home if you are not in a position to make a lifelong commitment to adopt.

Foster homes play a crucial role in rehabilitating rescued animals and in helping abused and neglected animals learn how to love and trust again. By teaching or re-teaching an animal how to live in a home setting, foster homes help increase the odds for a smooth and successful transition into a permanent adoptive home.

Some people are reluctant to foster animals because they are concerned that it is unfair to take in an animal, establish a bond, and then allow the animal to be adopted into another home. Isnʼt that a second abandonment? Not at all. Being in a foster home can be a lifesaving bridge for an abandoned or frightened pet. It gives the animal a chance to get used to life in a house and an opportunity to learn that people can be kind, food is available, and there is a warm, secure place to sleep. Foster care can help prepare a pet for a new life in a permanent home.

Taking animals into your home, loving them, and then letting them go requires a special kind of person. Your role as a foster parent is to prepare the animal for adoption into a forever home. Giving up an animal you have fostered, even to a wonderful new home, can be difficult emotionally. Parting with animals you’ve nurtured and loved requires a very special kind of person. Foster parents should remind themselves that moving an animal into an adoptive home makes room for one more animal to be saved.