Month: February 2020

Hello Houston reddit, I am coming to you hoping that maybe you guys have some advice or guidance regarding my current situation as a foster for the Harris County Animal Shelter.

EDIT – TLDR: Not allowed to adopt foster dog even though signed contracted stated I could within a certain time frame. I’m not the first person that has participated in this program that has had this issue. Discovered that main pushback has to do with the transporting agency, Houston PetSet.

EDIT 2: tried to simplify post but probably didn’t do a great job of it.

I have been fostering for the past month. The contract I signed when I started fostering stated that I could adopt my foster if I gave them a notification five days prior to a scheduled transport date.

I requested to adopt within the first week of fostering. I made the request but was told that I couldn’t. They said that the line on the contract re: being able to adopt was an error and they would not abide by it..

I was notified that the transport for my foster was scheduled for this Friday. That evening, I emailed the transfer program supervisor and pretty much begged to be allowed to adopt. Her response was pretty much ‘maybe but probably not.’

I’ve talked to some other volunteers who have said that this is a problem has occurred several times, where a foster family is not allowed to adopt their dog and they are forced to return their animals to be sent to rescues out of state.

I contacted the transportation supervisor at the Animal Humane Society in Minnesota (where my foster is scheduled to go) and he told me that he didn’t have a hold placed on the animal and he stated that “I don’t want more dogs. I want more dogs to find homes” and that he would prefer that I adopted the dog if I wanted to. He told me that I should contact either the Harris Shelter or the tranportation agent, Houston Petset, to see why I was getting this push back.

It turns out it was Houston Petset that was holding the dog, and they would not drop it because she had already been accounted for. The lady I spoke to said that I ‘was not the first foster to make this request’ and that she understands that it was difficult when you got attached but that maybe I could just adopt another dog because there are plenty of other dogs that need homes.

I am not the first foster who has made the request to adopt and have been denied in favor of sending them to a rescue group several thousand miles away.

It seems like a systematic issue to me. I understand that Houston Petset is helping the community by alleviating the burden of our very overcrowded shelters, but they should account for the fact that may inadvertently find homes for dogs in their own community by the fostering program they have set up for their transporting resource.

This is has all been very emotionally distressing and the fact that other people in our community have faced the same issue makes it even more difficult. I have gone through crazy lengths to keep my beautiful foster, Ella, and its making me feel like a bit of a Karen at this point, but I love her too much at this point to not keep fighting. My significant other and I are seriously considering the possibility of driving out to Minnesota to adopt her there if we are not able to change their minds.