Foster to Adopt Success Stories

Animal shelters with robust foster programs know the vital role that fosters play in the care of their animals. When the shelter is lucky, these fosters sometimes go on to become permanent pet parents. Foster to adopt has the potential to increase adoptions and improve matchmaking.

Learn about foster fails, how foster-to-adopt programs work, and how to build a successful foster-to-adopt program at your shelter.

What Is a Foster Fail?

While fosters lovingly refer to adopting their foster pet as a “foster fail,” it’s a bit of a misnomer. A “foster fail” is when a foster decides to adopt the pet in their care. For the pet, the shelter, and the new pet parents, we’d call this a win.

Foster fail success stories are incredibly powerful for animal shelters. The emotional connection between a foster and the pet they end up adopting is special. The foster gives the pet a chance, the pet takes up space in the foster’s heart, and the rest is history. Often, these foster pets have special medical or behavioral needs, and the foster’s willingness to take these animals on speaks to the exceptional bond they’ve developed in caring for these animals.

How Foster to Adopt Programs Work

While temporary fosters often experience foster fails, you can also increase adoptions by developing a foster-to-adopt program. Foster-to-adopt programs allow potential adopters to take a pet home to foster before committing to adoption. These trial placements allow the foster to assess whether the pet would be a good fit for their home.

A foster-to-adopt program offers several benefits to animals:

• Grants animals time out of the stressful environment of the shelter
• Provides pets with opportunities to socialize with people and other animals
• Gives the shelter more information on the animal’s behavior in the home
• Increased likelihood of the pet remaining in adopter’s home
• Opens more space in the shelter for additional animals

During the foster-to-adopt trial period, the animal shelter supports the foster by providing the supplies they need to care for the animal and any medical care that’s due during the trial period. The shelter should educate the foster on how to help the animal adjust to the home and the animal’s individual care needs. Regular check-ins should be performed to assess how the pet is doing and to ensure the foster has the support they need.

Foster Fail Success Stories: Real-Life Pet Adoption Moments

Foster fails and foster-to-adopt situations give chances to pets who might otherwise struggle to find their forever home. These pets may be senior animals, animals with special medical or behavioral needs, singleton kittens, and more.

If you check with almost any animal shelter that has fosters, you’ll find wonderful pet adoption stories classified as “foster fails.” It’s incredibly heart-warming to hear how a temporary placement has turned into an unbreakable emotional bond.

Check out these animal shelter success stories to see firsthand how foster fails save animals.

Rose Marie: A Dog’s Second Chance at Life

Rose Marie is a 7-year-old dog whose fosters originally intended to give two weeks of TLC to a dog who looked like she’d had a rough life. When her fosters took her in, she was incredibly thin, missing hair, had nails curled backwards towards her paw pads, and blackened teeth. The first time her foster hugged her, Rosie leaned into her.

Two weeks turned into four months, and still, no one had shown interest in giving Rose Marie a chance. Rosie had quickly become friends with the foster’s giant English Mastiff named Minnie. The foster’s husband knew that Rosie would be foster fail, and he was right.

Since adoption, Rosie has visited friends in independent living and nursing homes. She goes on walks five times a week with other dogs and has a squeaky duck which is her favorite toy. Of Rosie, her foster family says, “She has been a wonderful (although not planned) addition to our family. I am extremely happy that Rosie was given a second chance in life.”

Piper’s Story: A Senior Dog Finds Her People (Along with Two Other Foster Fails)

Piper is a 17-year-old dog who originally came to her foster as a senior shelter pet waiting for heart testing. Piper’s family reports there was a “little bit of magic with her.” As they were discussing whether they were going to keep her, Piper was standing on her hind legs, as if begging them to let her stick around.

She integrated herself into a family that already had Max, who was a special needs foster kitten when he was adopted years prior. The final piece of the family puzzle was Trixie, a two-week foster dog turned forever pet. Triple foster fails? We support it!

Cruiser’s Story: The Little Kitten Who Could

Cruiser, known lovingly as Tiny Monster, was a kitten when she was taken in by her foster. The other two in her litter passed away, and she had to get fed through a tube. Though she tried to die on her foster as a kitten, with love and perseverance, Tiny Monster is now a beautiful 1-year-old cat.

Her fosters report that they never brought her back to the shelter and simply received an email from the microchip company congratulating them on their adoption. “She’s beautiful now, but I like to remind her that wasn’t always the case.” She certainly had a rough start but look at her now!

Hawk: My Personal Foster Fail

I took Hawk in when he was a little under 2 months old. He’d been hospitalized by our veterinary team and treated for coccidia but continued to have diarrhea. I, being a veterinarian, decided he would stay with me for continued care until we could determine next steps.

Euthanasia was on the table, but truth be told, my wife and I fell in love with him almost immediately. I halfheartedly tried to find rescue for him, sending info on him to two rescues before deciding that he was just going to live with us.

Since adoption, he’s gone on lake trips, to out-of-town weddings, and even spent a week living it up in a hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He loves to torture his other cat siblings, Charlie, Gryffin, and Xena, though he dares not mess with his dog sister, Anna.

Why Foster Fails Are a Win for Shelters and Pets

As we mentioned before, these foster “fails” are truly shelter “wins.” Foster fails result in reduced time in shelter and fewer returns. Having these pets outside of the shelter reduces pressure on overwhelmed shelters, possibly opening kennel space for more pets in need.

When an animal is fostered, the shelter gains a deeper understanding of the animal’s needs.

What kinds of toys do they like? How do they respond to being left alone? Are they crate-trained? How do they respond to different people in the home?

Knowing this information helps the shelter find long-term matches.

Not only do foster fails and foster-to-adopt programs boost adoption rates, but they also help build community connections. Shelters should never underestimate the impact their fosters have.

Identifying Strong Foster-to-Adopt Candidates

It’s a good idea to remove barriers to adoption. You should not necessarily reject a potential adopter based on their home, their job, their finances, or their lifestyle, though it’s always good to discuss these issues and any concerns with the potential adopter. Instead, focus on whether the potential adopter has a plan to meet the animal’s specific needs.

Important things to consider when placing animals with a foster-to-adopt candidate include:

• Willingness to learn about an animal’s special needs
• Understanding that adoption is a long-term commitment
• Safety of the home environment for the pet
• Safety of other animals and children in the home if the shelter pet is fostered
• The potential adopter’s willingness to follow your shelter’s policies

You can also identify strong foster-to-adopt candidates among fosters who intended to provide a temporary housing situation for an animal. You may notice that the foster is forming a deep bond with the pet, which can indicate the potential for a foster fail. The foster may refer to the pet as their own and may seem sad at the prospect of the animal getting adopted by someone else.

You may notice them cancelling or delaying meet-and-greets. Perhaps they’re altering their home or purchasing toys and beds on their own to meet the animal’s needs. If the foster is expressing that they’re not sure how they’ll give up the foster or casually inquiring about how adoption works, these are other signs that they may actually want to adopt.

Ask them gently how they’re feeling about fostering and whether they’ve considered adopting the pet. You can always offer a foster-to-adopt situation, in which they could continue fostering while they’re making up their mind without the pressure of attending meet-and-greets. Make sure your foster is aware of how their responsibilities will change if they do adopt. While you may still be around to offer support, they’d need to provide for the pet’s medical care and needs.

Supporting a Smooth Foster-to-Adopt Transition

Understand that the decision to adopt a foster pet is a big one. This decision will completely change your foster’s family unit and home life. While you should certainly let the potential adopter know that you’re there to support and guide them, you’ll want to give them the space to discuss it with their family privately.

Try to make the transition as smooth as possible. Make sure the animal is medically cleared and that the adopter is aware of any ongoing medical or behavioral issues that they’ll need to manage in the home. If the pet requires daily medication, consider sending a certain amount of medication with them so that they have time to establish care with their own veterinarian.

Your fosters can become your greatest advocates. Even post-adoption, encourage the adopter to consider fostering again, volunteering to help pets like their new family member, and advocating for shelter adoptions. Consider asking them if they’re open to your shelter sharing their story.

Creating and Promoting a Foster-to-Adopt Pathway

Your foster-to-adopt program is most likely to be successful if you develop a structured plan. Most commonly, the foster-to-adopt track is developed within your existing foster program.

The following are tips for developing a strong foster-to-adopt pathway:

• Make sure you have signed agreements that lay out expectations for the foster and what the process of foster-to-adopt looks like.
• Set clear time limits for when decisions must be made if the foster is specifically planning foster-to-adopt.
• Make sure the foster has a specific point of contact. Usually, this is a foster manager or a member of a foster team. In some cases, it may be a member of the adoptions team.
• Train shelter staff, especially members of the foster, volunteer, and adoptions teams, on your new foster-to-adopt pathway.
• Put animals who are in foster-to-adopt situations on temporary hold to avoid booking adoption appointments or meet-and-greets while they’re in their potential adoptive home.
• Use foster-to-adopt as an opportunity to recommend specific animals who are struggling in the shelter due to medical or behavioral issues, age, or anything else that might be increasing their length of stay.

Remember—Foster “Fails” Are a Shelter Win

A foster fail is a chance for your shelter to celebrate a success story. By tracking your foster fail data, you can highlight the impact of your foster-to-adopt program and use this information to inform your marketing. Consider sharing foster fail stories in newsletters, social media, and fundraising to encourage others in the community to consider fostering.

Every animal that goes from foster care to adoption is one less animal stuck in the shelter system and one more family made whole—make sure your team understands this and celebrates this.