Florence, Alabama

The FLAS Foster Program seeks to provide supplemental care to animals with special needs, decrease euthanasia of animals, increase animal adoptions, and increase the community's involvement in caring for the community's animals. Not only does our foster program maximize the number of animals rescued and saved, it allows the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter to care for animals who would be difficult to care for in our shelter environment and provide the space needed for new animals entering the shelter daily.

Our foster volunteers are caring people who do everything from bottle feeding orphaned babies around the clock, to socializing little ones to ensure that they look forward to human and animal interaction. We will offer you as much training as you need. Help from our staff is just a phone call away. Most shelters and organizations cannot take care of underage puppies and kittens because they do not have the personnel to provide the special attention these little ones need. They need people who are willing to raise the puppies and kittens until they are 8 to 10 weeks old when they can be returned to the shelter to be spayed or neutered and placed in permanent homes. Our success in rehoming as many animals as possible is directly dependent on the number of reliable fosters we have waiting to help. The more foster volunteers we have, the more lives we can save.

Foster parenting can be more flexible than other volunteer jobs that require people to show up for a specific shift during limited times of the day and for a committed length of time.

The ultimate goal of the foster care program is find a permanent home for the foster animal.

To become and remain a Volunteer Foster, a volunteer must:

• Submit a completed Foster Application and be approved.
• Be at least 19 years old.
• Show proper photo identification.
• Be able to provide a safe, loving, and stable environment for the foster animal.
• Be able to transport the foster animal to and from FLAS during normal FLAS business hours.
• Provide proof that all dogs and cats living at or visiting the residence have been properly vaccinated for: DOGS  Distemper, Parvo, Kennel Cough, and Rabies, CATS  FVRCP and Rabies
• Be able and willing to satisfy, and actually adhere to, all terms and conditions of the Application.