Please stop telling me to adopt my foster animals.

As a foster parent, I’d like to offer a perspective on why we should refrain from telling foster families to adopt their foster animals. As soon as a foster family decides to adopt an animal, their opportunities to continue fostering significantly decrease. The cycle of fostering relies on rehoming animals. For every animal I help rehome, I can open my home up to a new animal. If I adopted every animal I have fostered, I would have 37 animals. Do you have the capacity in your home for 37 animals? Me either!

I have heard the comment, “I could never do it! I would keep them all” an infinite number of times. Transparently, how I internalize this comment depends on my mood in any particular moment, as well as the tone and context in which the comment is given. At times, in response to this sentiment, I wonder if I am morally bankrupt. I ask myself, “Why is this so easy for me?” Because most of the time, it is. Perhaps it’s because I have done the emotional preparation required to be a successful foster. I fully understand that these animals are not mine. They were never intended to be. My duty is to provide them a safe, loving, TEMPORARY home.

Plus, it’s easy to say you’d “Keep them all” when you are an outsider looking in – you probably don’t understand the feeling of stepping bare foot in poop in your own home, you aren’t scrubbing pee from your carpet what feels like 1,254 times a day, and you aren’t training animals whose former trauma or neglect causes behavior issues. As rewarding as it is to foster animals, there comes a great sense of relief and peace when our assignments are complete – our house can return from chaos to sanity.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the emotional nature of animal welfare. Trust me, I get it. But I want to provide an objective perspective from the recipient of the “Just keep them!” comments. When I foster, my local Humane Society covers all associated costs: food, crates, carriers, toys, pads, diapers, medication, vet visits, and 24/7 support. Once you adopt an animal, those costs are no longer covered.

So, the next time you feel the urge to say, “Oh, it looks like they already found their forever home!” I gently request that you ask yourself, “Could I adopt two puppies right now?” Your answer would likely be, “No,” and for a variety of valid reasons – work schedule, financial situation, resident animals, space, time, energy, and on and on and on. My resources are limited, just like everyone else.

For me, I prefer “Thank you for fostering” instead of “I could never do it.” It’s kind of like telling a retail worker, “Thank you for working on Christmas,” instead of “Bummer you have to work today.”

This post is dedicated to Amber, Bagel, Bailey, Barney, Ben, Bianca, Brownie, Bruiser, Bruno, Buddy the Dragon, Delilah, Drax, Dylan, Edd, Eros, Hendrix, Jorah, Kris, Lara, Lyanna, MayMay, Marshall, Max, Maxwell, Matilda, Memmel, Mia, Midnight Fairy, Minnie, Mickie, Otis, Quill, Ryder, Stevie, Valentina, Yuki, and Zeke.