Foster

What is Fostering?

Fostering is a commitment to care for an animal in your home while looking for a permanent adoptive home.

Importance of Fostering

Korean policy currently states that city-run animal control facilities hold stray animals for a minimum of only 10 days before euthanizing (killing). Korean rescue groups and sympathetic vet clinics which board strays have limited space. Few no-kill shelters exist in Korea, and the shelters that do exist are often overcrowded and underfunded. You can help save lives by making the commitment to house a cat or dog in need and help them find their forever home-- saving lives is what fostering is all about.

What Commitment Means

Fostering is not a lifelong commitment like adoption, but it is a serious short-term commitment that requires flexibility, patience, and love. The time it takes to find an appropriate adoptive home varies between a couple weeks and several months; there is no way to predict how long an animal will need to stay in foster care. Foster parents must be committed not only to providing care, but also helping in the search for a permanent adoptive home.

What Foster Parents Do

Previous experience is helpful, but not always necessary. Except in cases with special health or training needs, many animals just need someone to provide a loving, stable environment and a chance to feel secure. By getting to know your foster dog or cat's personality, behaviour, likes and dislikes, and health status, and sharing this information along with photos and/or videos, you increase an animal's opportunities of being adopted.

What Fostering is Not

There are a lot of misconceptions about what fostering means. To be clear:

• Fostering is not a way to have a short-term, no-commitment pet until the end of your work contract or time in Korea.
• Fostering is not a way to test your readiness to adopt a particular animal for a couple weeks, only to give her back if you feel she's not for you.
• Fostering is not what you call the time between when you adopted an animal until the time when you changed your mind.
• Fostering is not a rent-a-pet service to soothe your homesickness until you establish a social group in Korea and no longer have time for an animal. Neither is adoption.

How to Foster in Korea

ARK does not manage a foster care program, but maintains a list of animal shelters which do. ARK also provides a list of animals in need of foster homes now. Find a shelter near you and contact them directly to find out how you can begin fostering and which animals have the most urgent need.

Questions to Ask About a Shelter's Fostering Program

• Do you have a contract that outlines my responsibilities as a foster parent?
• Who is responsible for promoting the adoption of this animal?
• Who is responsible for creating an adoption listing?
• Who is responsible for updating the adoption ad?
• How often must I provide updates? To whom?
• Who is responsible for screening adopters?
• Who will pay vet bills incurred while fostering?
• Who do I contact in case of emergency?
• Who will collect the adoption fee? How?
• What happens if my time in Korea runs out and the animal is not yet adopted? Who will look for a new foster home?
• How much notice do I need to give if I want to take a trip or go on vacation without my foster animal?
• What do I do if I fall in love and want to adopt my foster animal?

General Articles About Fostering

• Foster Care 101 by Sommer Chambers
• You Too Can Foster! by Deb Carr, Dogs Deserve Better Inc.
• Become a Foster Parent! and other articles in the Best Friends Animal Society Resource Library
• How to Prepare Your Home For a Foster Pet and other articles in the Fostering Cats and Dogs section of Petfinder.com