Implications & future directions of foster care programs in animal shelters
Foster care, a unique form of human–animal interaction, is an effective tool for improving welfare by allowing animals to escape the stressors of the shelter and experience more opportunities for social interaction in a home. In this talk, I’ll discuss a recent review and new research with my graduate student, Grace Phillips, in which we examined foster care programs and their effects on human and animal welfare, evaluate the successes and challenges of supporting shelter foster care programs, and recommend best practices for lasting programmatic success. I’ll conclude the talk with preliminary findings from our recent research exploring hybrid fostering. One barrier to recruiting and retaining caregivers is the commonly held belief that they do not have the time to foster. By providing daytime care at a PetSmart Everyday Adoption Center and having dogs spend their nights in a home with foster caregivers, those barriers to participation are greatly reduced while dogs’ quality of life is improved.