A Deeper Look into Animal Fostering

Above is Abbie Slate (left) and Jessica Tauriainen (right) holding their foster pups (center) in their home. Photograph courtesy of Abbie Slate.

Hearing the cries of animals in the shelter can be one of the most disheartening things a person can experience. Each animal is vying for the love they’re so neglectfully missing.

Animals can come into the shelter for a variety of reasons. They could have been abandoned by their previous owners, raised to fight other dogs, or could just be a stray. Each animal’s circumstance and story is different but one thing remains the same: A need for a loving home.

While adoption is looked at as the major way to help an animal get out of the shelter quickly, some might not be able to take on the full responsibility of adoption. A person might want to help, but due to their circumstances, are unable to go the full adoption route.

So what might people do as an alternative to help these struggling animals out? One option that has become a crucial program within shelters, as of recently, is animal fostering.

Fostering is when a person temporarily take on the responsibility of an animal, particularly kittens and dogs, and welcome them into the home for an amount of time.

This can range from a few days to a few weeks depending on the specific animal’s needs. A foster parent works hand-in-hand with the volunteers at the shelter to help the animal prepare for its forever family.

A foster parent is able to give an animal time away from the shelter and create room for more animals at the shelter. This is especially important with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, where local shelters have been experiencing overcrowding issues.

Fostering also gives the animal crucial one-on-one time that is very important for an animal’s recovery and ultimate placement into a permanent home.

Above is an infographic taking a deeper look into the process of animal fostering with information provided by HATS.

Above is two of Micky Yager’s kitten fosters, both unnamed, cuddling close together while looking for a forever home. Photograph courtesy of Micky Yager.

“As a foster, you get to give undivided attention to your animals. Animals residing at the shelters only get occasional care and often don’t get to be known on a personal level,” Micky Yager, a volunteer for Kalamazoo Animal Rescue & foster parent, said.

Getting as many animals out of their cages and into loving homes, even if it’s temporary, is the number one priority for the shelter.

Fostering can help maximize the space in these facilities since a lot of the foster animals are adopted out at the foster parent’s house or an apartment away from the animal shelter.

What volunteers at the shelters hear from potential foster parents time and time again is, ‘How am I going to be able to give the animal back after I have become attached to it?’

For that answer, Humane Animal Treatment Society, Community Coordinator, Dawn Jevicks says,

“It’s kind of like sending your kid off to college. It’s still hard to say goodbye, but you know, it’s to better their future. That’s really the heart of these programs.”

There can be major benefits when thinking about fostering an animal. One benefit in particular is how it can help not only the animal but also the foster parent heal and grow. Often times after the loss of a beloved pet, the owner will try to fill that void left by their companion’s passing.

According to the volunteers at HATS, fostering can be a great way to take a person’s mind off of a loss and feel better about changing the life of an animal in desperate need. By helping an animal through fostering, the potential foster parent, in turn, might be able to heal from the loss of their beloved pet.

Above is Dawn Jevicks, Community Coordinator at Humane Animal Treatment Society talking about the importance of animal fostering. Photograph taken on Monday, November 1, 2021 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Puppy love! Above is Abbie Slate with her foster, Blaze who recently was adopted. Photograph courtesy of Abbie Slate.

Just how exactly might a foster parent impact an animal’s life for the better? Central Michigan University student, Abbie Slate, recently fostered again and explains her experience with getting an animal out of the shelter.

“I recently just fostered another dog and his name was Blaze. He was a two year old Pitbull Terrier Mix. Basically the reason that he needed fostering was that he was in the shelter for months and months on end with no one putting in an application for him,” Slate said.

No one was paying attention to Blaze until Slate began to foster him. She worked tirelessly to get him healthy and was able to find Blaze a home by bringing him around other college students.

Blaze meeting and socializing with college students ended up being very beneficial because, not so long after, he was adopted by a college student who had taken a liken to him.

Slate’s journey with Blaze is just one of the many stories of fostering.

While fostering may not be for everyone, helping in any way possible will ultimately benefit these animals tremendously.

Slate’s roommate, who helped her foster and fellow Central Michigan University student, Jessica Tauriainen, has an important message to people who might be thinking about fostering.

“It’s super rewarding. It’s an awesome thing to do because it just benefits everybody,” Tauriainen said.

Above is Abbie Slate (left) and Jessica Tauriainen (right) with kitten, Ash (center) in their home. Photograph taken on Thursday, November 11, 2021 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Above is dogs in their cages at the Humane Animal Treatment Society. Photograph taken on Monday, November 1, 2021 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Fostering is becoming an important program within the shelters and one that needs more awareness according to the volunteers at HATS.

While these companions are waiting for their forever homes, a foster parent who is willing to open up their heart and home can significantly alter these animals lives.

The cries once heard all throughout the shelter from these animals are now extinguished due to the kindness of people wanting to make a difference.

Interested in fostering? Looking for more information, or different ways to help? Visit hatsweb.org/foster.

Central Michigan University, Class of 2021.
Journalism & Political Science

Vincent Layer