As a result of the coronavirus crisis, rescues, shelters, animal control facilities, dog wardens, and humane societies have an increased need for volunteer foster homes, who are a lifeline to alleviate overcrowding and economic hardships, as employees and volunteers are unable to come in and care for pets as they normally do.

Complicating matters is that in some situations, routine spay/neuter surgeries have been deemed “non-essential” in order to preserve supplies, such as PPE and oxygen, and to promote staff safety by encouraging social distancing.

Some rescue and shelter operations do not release pets into foster homes until they are spayed or neutered. Most do not release pets into permanent adoptive homes until they are spayed or neutered. Given the lack of available spay/neuter surgeries, a strong foster home, foster-to-adopt, or adoption contract with special spay/neuter provisions can be used to ensure that rescue and shelter operations are able to continue to place pets into foster and adoptive homes while still safeguarding their mission of reducing pet overpopulation. Such agreements give the shelter or rescue the ability to enforce the delayed spay/neuter and reclaim the pet (and/or its unintended offspring) if necessary.

The following sample language is a volunteer foster home agreement addendum. This is a supplement to a foster home contract and is only as strong as the foster home contract is itself. This addendum is not formatted to be used on its own and may not be legally enforceable on its own.  An effective and enforceable foster home contract will include additional critical provisions pertaining to the foster program, such as jurisdiction for enforcement and reimbursement for expenses such as food, transport, and medical care.

This sample addendum is provided for informational use only and should be reviewed by legal counsel in conjunction with the organization’s foster home contract. Rescues and shelters may also consider foster-to-adopt or adoption contracts with special addendums related to spay/neuter and COVID-19.

Tags: adoption agreement, animal care, animal rescue, coronavirus, COVID 19, foster home agreement, pets and coronavirus, spay neuter addendum, spay neuter agreement, spay neuter contract, special foster agreement