Provide love, care and a temporary home for a young or adult animal. Learn about the two programs under our Foster Families umbrella.
Baby Fosters
Are you ready to give a puppy or kitten the care it needs to grow and thrive? If the answer is YES, then you should consider joining our Foster Families program at the Humane Society of Broward County. Families are volunteers who provide temporary, in-home care for dogs, cats and their offspring. You provide the love, and we’ll provide the fur babies.
Generally speaking, kittens and puppies need to be kept in a foster home until they are 8 weeks old. Kittens need to meet a weight requirement of 1.7 lbs. Once the age and weight requirements are met, the animals are returned to the Humane Society and put up for adoption to good homes.
Currently, the Humane Society has a dire need for Foster Families. Foster care is a most rewarding and fulfilling program that helps save the lives of animals that might not otherwise have a chance.
You must be 18 or over.
Step 1: View the orientation video by clicking here.
Step 2: Take the post orientation assessment. Click here for the adult assessment. Click here for the teen assessment if participating with an adult to earn service hours for school.
Step 3: Complete the application by clicking here.
Step 4: Email a copy of your driver’s license and a selfie to [email protected].
Your application cannot be completed without all of the information requested.
You will be contacted when all information is submitted to let you know your application is complete and to welcome you to the most rewarding program you will ever take part in. You will also be sent the Foster Family manual which includes important information and phone numbers when fostering a pet.
Anyone who loves animals and is willing to donate their time, providing lots of tender love and care. Retirees, homemakers, people who work at home or have flexible work schedules all would be good candidates for this program.
You must be 18 or older. Your daily responsibilities when fostering are to provide a clean, safe environment for your foster pet. Foster families are responsible for keeping supplies needed on-hand. Food, medication and other needed items will be supplied.
There are no costs to become a Foster Family, but we do recommend having some supplies on hand such as towels, grooming supplies, toys, and other things necessary to care for your foster pet. Food, medication, and litter for cats is always supplied.
Adult Foster Program
The Humane Society of Broward County’s Adult Foster Program helps more shelter pets find forever homes, but its success depends on the active involvement of pet lovers in the community.
The majority of animals at our shelter have been surrendered by families who can no longer care for them. Since they know what it’s like to live in a nurturing home, some dogs and cats find it hard to adapt to animal shelter life and often become depressed. In some cases, pets that have been surrendered to us also need extra help from caring volunteers to make them more adoptable.
With the introduction of the Adult Foster Program, the HSBC can now offer these wonderful animals this much better alternative. Sometimes all it takes is removing them from the shelter and placing them in a home environment – similar to what they are accustomed to – in order to ease the transition. Adult Foster Families also provide much needed support for homeless pets that need training, medical care, or socialization before finding their forever homes.
The shelter’s Adult Foster Program is similar to foster care, but goes a step further. Adult Foster Families provide temporary homes for select pets, which will be spayed or neutered and given their preliminary vaccinations before arriving in their temporary homes. All food and supplies needed to care for the pet are provided to you. But unlike Baby Foster Families, Adult Foster Families will help maximize their pets’ availability and exposure. Each dog will leave with a brightly colored “Adopt Me” vest so that while they’re in parks and other pet-friendly venues, the public will see that the pet is looking for a forever home. This is a great program for active families looking for a temporary companion pet.
Adult Foster Families will raise the profiles and availability of their canine or feline charges through other creative means, such as social media, homemade signs and by alerting their contacts in their professional and community networks. Once they have found an adopter that’s a good fit, we will process the paperwork and the foster family will present the adopting family with their new loving companion. As a further reward, they’ll know that as a result of their efforts, the pet will not have to spend another day at the shelter. The Adult Foster Family Program attends pet friendly events in the Tri-County area so volunteers and their adoptable foster pets can meet up and showcase their wonderful foster dogs and cats in our local community.
Teens can also participate and earn their required high school community service hours by partnering with a parent and becoming a Teen Foster. As a Teen Foster, they will earn five hours for every FULL day the animal is at their home. Teens must view an orientation with a parent or guardian and complete the post-orientation assessment in order to earn hours, but the parent or guardian will be the registered volunteer. Teens must also help with the daily care of the pet and keep a daily log to show their participation.
