How Foster Care Works
What do you need to be a foster family? It’s simple:
- A safe and loving home
- Time to love and care for your foster animal
As a Foster Family Volunteer, you may host animals with
special medical or behavioral needs, puppies or kittens under 8 weeks of age,
or a nursing mother and her litter. By fostering pets in need of extra TLC, you
are providing rehabilitation in a nurturing home environment while directly
helping prepare these animals for a new lifelong home.
How do I get started? If you are interested in
becoming part of our foster family team, please follow these steps:
- Fill out a foster application.
- Be in the area. Foster volunteers must be able to travel to
our facility in Cumming on a regular basis. Please consider the potential
commute before applying to foster.
- Be ready to start making a difference in the life of an
animal. The shelter will match you with the foster animal(s) that best suit
your lifestyle and time commitment.
How do I get matched with an animal? When the Pet
Resource Center receives animals that are not ready to be put up for adoption,
we reach out to our foster volunteers. If a foster family is not available to
foster at that time, we simply try another foster. There will be plenty of
opportunities to foster, so there is no pressure to take an animal.
Once matched, foster family volunteers will come to the Pet Resource Center to
pick up their foster animal(s). At that time the foster family will receive
information about their animals’ condition and needs, and then we will provide
appropriate supplies to the foster family.
What support does the Pet Resource Center offer? We will provide all
basic supplies that foster families will need to care for their foster animals,
including food, medications, kennels and toys. We also provide care
instructions for each foster animal so you will know exactly what your foster’s
needs are. Staff will be available should you have questions about your foster.
Foster families will need to bring their foster to the Pet Resource Center periodically
to be examined by our medical staff and receive vaccinations or other
treatment.
Fostering is a wonderful experience for you and your family.
We hope that you will consider this unique opportunity to further help the
animals of Forsyth County by becoming a Foster Family Volunteer.
For additional information or questions about the program,
please contact our Program Coordinator at (678) 965-7197 or foster@forsythco.com.