The Humane Society's Pets Fur People Foster Home Agreement

Please complete the entire form below - all fields are required. If a question in not applicable in your case please put "N/A" (without the quotes).

If you have any problems with this online form please download/print/mail this pdf version to this address: PO Box 6151 Tyler, Texas 75711-6151.

Fostering an animal can be an extremely rewarding experience. The success of our foster home program is a great benefit-both to our adoption rate and to the emotional health of our shelter employees. Additionally, the animal that you foster is usually a more socialized, adoptable animal. In the interest of our animals, the following rules serve as a safety net for both the foster family and the fostered animals.

The Humane Society's Pets Fur People reserves the right to review animals for foster care and appoint foster caregivers from a pre-approved list. Requirements for foster homes will be set by The Humane Society's Pets Fur People and can be amended at any time.

The Humane Society's Pets Fur People's staff will inform you of any medical treatment required, the expected length of the foster care period, the objectives of the care, and any other expectations. As a The Humane Society's Pets Fur People foster home, you will be expected to keep the animal secure, return it to HSSC when requested, and to direct any potential adopters to The Humane Society's Pets Fur People in order to complete the adoption process.

Foster caregivers should understand the risks of contagious or communicable conditions. These risks will be explained when you are contacted to foster. All personal animals in your home should be kept current on their immunizations, and in most cases, you are encouraged to keep foster animals isolated at all times. Written material will be available to assist you, and the shelter staff can answer any questions that might arise.

The Humane Society's Pets Fur People will retain ownership of all animals in foster care and will make all decisions regarding their placement. Input from the foster caregiver is very valuable to the adoption process, but the final decision as to the adoptive home must rest with the trained adoption counselors. The adoption staff will handle all adoptions unless the foster caregiver has received training as an adoption counselor. In that case, the senior staff adoption counselor will give the final approval on the adoption.

The Humane Society's Pets Fur People foster animals must be examined by the The Humane Society's Pets Fur People Shelter Manager or a Senior Animal Technician prior to being displayed for adoption. After health clearance, the animal may be integrated into the system in one of two ways:

Foster animals can participate in mobile adoption locations; or
Foster animals may be returned to the shelter where they will be placed up for adoption as soon as space becomes available. If you wish, you will be contacted if the animal should require foster care in the future.

Any problems encountered during the course of the foster period should be directed to Shelter Manager.

As stated previously, foster parenting can be very fulfilling for you, as well as for the animal that you foster. We ask you to realize, however, that sometimes all of our efforts fail, and a foster animal must be euthanized. This is rare and would not be done without the consent of all parties involved. However, the difficulty of such a decision must be considered when deciding to become a foster parent.