Have you considered letting your foster caregivers process the adoptions of their foster pets from their homes? This may seem daunting at first, but the benefits are worth considering: multiple studies have shown that pets adopted from their foster homes are significantly less likely to be returned. Having foster caregivers process their foster pets’ adoptions could save hours for adoptions staff, giving them more time to support the adopters they do work with. Lastly, doesn’t it just make sense for the person who knows the pet best to provide its adoption counseling? 

Shelter and rescue consultant Rachel Jones of Rachel at the Shelter has helped several organizations navigate this change. “Allowing fosters to conduct their own adoptions is progressive, time-saving, indicates trust and prevents animals from ever needing to set foot in a stressful shelter again,” she explains.

Here are five tips for making this change:

First, ensure that you have the bandwidth to support fosters through the change.  “If it’s rolled out thoughtlessly or without a clear process to follow or if there is no one readily available to answer questions about the change, it’ll leave a sour taste in your foster base’s mouth and it will take a lot of work to come back from that,” says Jones. “Changes to existing processes are always going to be touchy but you can minimize a lot of the fallout by being available to earnestly respond to concerns.”

Create a process that’s easy and clear. For Jones, rolling out these changes started with sending out an email blast and posting in the foster Facebook group. “We linked the adoption process and the paperwork they would need to conduct an offsite adoption on the foster resource page so they could answer their questions about it and download the materials from home at any time,” she says. “For existing fosters that were experiencing the change in real time, we made sure we were readily available to answer their questions, both in the interest of quelling confusion and as a form of respect.”

Set expectations. “As long as you build expectations clearly into the onboarding process, you almost never get pushback on it later,” Jones explains. “You need to mention it upfront in your orientation, agreements/contracts and you should include links to the Adopters Welcome Manual and Maddie’s^® University’s Adoption Counseling Course on your foster resource page.

Train your fosters. This includes providing both self-service learning and demonstration. “Demonstrating it well is the most impactful thing you can do for your fosters,” says Jones. “They have to see what it looks like in action if you want to expedite a hesitant individual’s buy-in.”

Offer them options. At WAGS Pet Adoption in Westminster, CA, “Fosters typically process adoptions via text messaging, which allows them flexibility,” says President and CEO Dr. Michelle Russillo. “Many fosters prefer this method because returning to the shelter can be challenging—either due to travel issues or because they feel it would be a hardship for the pet. However, if fosters are uncomfortable processing the adoption themselves, they do have the option to complete the process at the shelter.”

Interested in learning more? Check out the resources in our Adoptions from Foster Homes Collection in Maddie’s University!