FAQ

When you take home an animal that is available for adoption, in addition to offering them a comfy and loving temporary home, you will play a key role in facilitating their placement. This includes getting to know them well enough to talk about their personalities and quirks, taking good photos, being their advocate and ambassador, and working with the foster team and potential adopters to schedule and conduct meetings and adoption appointments.  

All available animals are LIVE on our website. Your email address will appear in the adoption summary as the contact person! Make sure you are checking your email regularly and keep an eye on your spam folder! Many of our foster parents will create a separate email address just for foster correspondence so that it does not get lost in their regular inbox. If you decide to do that, just let the foster team know to update your information and the animal’s adoption summary. 

I’ve just brought home my adoptable foster pet; what should I do first? 

• Let them settle into a routine and get to know them! Start to take note of their likes and dislikes, their personality and any quirks, attributes or special qualities. (If you would like to discuss anything you see with the foster or behavior teams, reach out to us!) If you have been given an observation sheet or log to fill out, start doing that. 

• Once they’ve settled a bit, start taking great photos! Here is a helpful resource: https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/how-get-great-photos-your-available-animals 

• Write your first adoption summary! Talk about your foster’s great qualities and mention things like favorite toys, favorite things to do, activity level, etc. Be creative! You can write it from the animal’s perspective or your own. Make it memorable! This summary can be updated as you get to know your foster better, but you want to get a head start! 

• Email your photos and summaries to one of the foster coordinators, your case manager if you have one, or to foster@sthuberts.org. 

I’ve got the most AMAZING foster and I want them to get more attention! What can I do? 

• Create an Instagram page for your pet! If you don’t make it too specific (ie: Sassy the Foster Dog, Jill the Black Cat, etc.) and create something like Smith Family Fosters or Jones Foster Family, you can use the same page for multiple fosters! You do not need to link it to your personal page, or have any real personal information on it, so even if you don’t use Instagram or Facebook yourself, it can be beneficial. We have volunteers who can help you create a page and a guide if needed. 

• Advertise your pet on your local Facebook pages! Just about every town has a “Maplewood Moms” or “Summit NJ Happenings” or “Mountain Lakes Buy and Sell” type page. If you join your local pages and post your pet there, you might find an adopter right in your own town! There are also Facebook pages dedicated to finding NJ pets homes. Investigate and post! 

• Make a cute flyer and post it in your local library or other public places. 

• Word of mouth! Talk about your foster pet! Make sure your friends and relatives know you have a foster and what kind of home they need. 

• REMEMBER – ALWAYS PROVIDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR A LINK TO THE ADOPTION PAGE ON THE ST HUBERT’S WEBSITE (WHERE THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS). YOU ARE ALWAYS THE FIRST POINT OF CONTACT FOR INTERESTED ADOPTERS, THEY SHOULD NOT BE CONTACTING THE SHELTER. 

I got an email! I have an interested adopter; what do I do now? 

• Great! Please try to respond to any interested party within 24 hours. Send them a quick email to acknowledge their interest and arrange for a time to talk on the phone. Please do not conduct lengthy email exchanges, you want to get the person on the phone. Speaking with the person will allow you to get a better feel for who they are, have a comfortable conversation and answer any questions they may have. 

• We do not have an application per se … we use what is known as a conversational adoption process. In order to determine if an animal is a good match for a potential adopter, you want to get information on their home, their lifestyle and their expectations. Before you start telling the person all about your foster, here are some sample questions you might ask to see if it’s a good fit: 

• Tell me about your family. Who lives in your home, who visits often. Are there young children around? What other pets do you have? Is there someone home during the day or will the pet be by themselves for the majority of working/school hours? Do you travel often? Do you plan to board your pet or will you be hiring pet sitters? 

• Tell me about your home. Do you have a good area where you can isolate and acclimate a new cat? Where will that happen? Do you have a fenced yard or nearby dog parks? Where will the dog be when alone? Will you be crate training? 

• What is important to you as far as the personality of your pet? Do you like calmer? More playful? Snuggly? Do you want a lap cat? A cat you can pick up and hold? Do you want a dog who will need a lot of exercise or more of a couch potato? Do you mind a pet who needs a little tlc/work? Maybe someone who is shy or nervous and needs some help coming out of their shell? 

• REMEMBER – THESE ARE GUIDELINES. TRY NOT TO ASK DIRECT YES/NO QUESTIONS. ENGAGE IN A DIALOGUE. YOU ARE TRYING TO DETERMINE IF YOUR FOSTER WILL THRIVE IN THIS HOME AND IF THE PERSON/FAMILY WILL BE HAPPY WITH THEIR PET NOW AND IN THE FUTURE. 

• If your foster animal has medical or behavioral issues, these need to be discussed. We are completely transparent, and all relevant information must be disclosed to a potential adopter. If you need assistance in explaining anything or if the adopter has questions you cannot answer or do not feel comfortable answering, please reach out to the foster team and we will assist you! 

It’s NOT a match, what do I say?  

• The potential adopter will most likely be thankful that you listened and have their and the animal’s best interest in mind. Explain why that particular pet would not be a good match and let them know that we get new animals all the time and they should continue to check our website. If you get push back or feel like you need assistance, please reach out to the foster team and we’ll be happy to help.  

It’s A MATCH! Now what? 

• Depending on what type of animal you are fostering and their personality, the next steps will vary. One of the easiest things to do is to offer a virtual meeting! You can do this via Zoom, FaceTime, Facebook Messenger or whatever platform works best for both you and the potential adopter. If they just want to see how the pet is in your home and how you interact with the pet, this is a great first step. Sometimes with very shy animals, this may be the only way that they can really see who they are prior to adoption. 

• Once you’ve done a virtual meet, or if one is not needed, an in-person meet is usually requested. It is very important that you are in communication with the foster team at this point! 

• If you are comfortable, you can invite a potential adopter to visit the animal at your home. 

• If you are fostering a dog, you could offer to meet the potential adopter outside at a park or other safe location. 

• A meeting can be arranged at the shelter. 

• Meetings at the shelter and/or actual adoption appointments must be pre-arranged and scheduled with the foster team. You cannot just show up and you cannot release the animal from your care. You are the main point of contact for the adopter, and the foster team is the main point of contact for you, the foster family. Please do not ask the adopter to call or email the shelter. You should reach out to us, and we can discuss setting appointments, arrange medical or behavioral consults/checks/treatments. Please understand that requests will be handled as expediently as possible. All our appointments are scheduled, and our days are very busy. We will get back to you as soon as possible and try our very best to accommodate, but some flexibility is appreciated. Understand that you may not be able to get something scheduled for the next day, and that we are not generally reachable outside of normal business hours.  

I have MULTIPLE interested parties! What do I do? 

• Acknowledge each email, just letting the people know that you have several interested adopters. While you should get back to everyone in the order you received them, we understand that they may not be able to be spoken to in turn. If the animal has any specific requirements : no kids, no cats, quiet home, must have another cat/dog, etc., you can quickly weed out people by asking a couple of quick questions in the acknowledgement email. You should make appointments to speak with the first person or two who fits the bill and see if they are a match. If it works, you can let the other interested parties know that the animal has an adopter and point them towards our website for other choices. If the people you speak to are not a match, then you can move on to the next. 

I’ve fallen in LOVE! I want to adopt my foster! 

• It happens, we’ve all been there. There are very few cases where you can’t adopt your foster, and generally you will know this when you take the animal in the beginning, however, you are contractually obligated to return the animal if asked. Please let the foster team know ASAP if you want to adopt your foster animal and we will arrange a date/time to do your paperwork. All adoption fees still apply to foster adoptions. 

We are ready to proceed to adoption! Let's do this! 

• If it is a possibility that the interested person/family may want to adopt at the in-person meeting, this appointment MUST be pre-arranged with the foster team. We recommend that you discuss this possibility when you are setting up the meeting. Do not think that this will happen on the fly and that someone may be available … again, the appointment must be pre-arranged with a member of the foster team. 

• If you’ve already had a meeting and the adopter is ready to set an adoption appointment, please  reach out to the foster team, and we will work together to arrange an appointment. If the foster pet is medically sound and does not need any updates or rechecks, the adoption can be processed over the phone or in the shelter. If the pet needs to come in for any reason, the adoption will be scheduled to occur at the shelter. 

• REMEMBER – THE PET CHANGES HANDS AT THE ADOPTION APPOINTMENT. YOU CANNOT RELEASE THE ANIMAL FROM YOUR CARE PRIOR TO, OR HOLD ON TO THE ANIMAL AFTER, ADOPTION PAPERWORK IS SIGNED.