Each year in the U.S., millions of companion animals face significant stress in shelters, impacting their physical and mental well-being. Understanding effective alternatives like foster care, where animals are looked after in homes before adoption, is crucial for improving animal welfare outcomes and reducing shelter overcrowding. Additionally, as more people seek to help shelter animals, evaluating the impact and best practices of foster programs becomes essential for both animal welfare organizations and potential caregivers.

For this comprehensive review, researchers looked at 42 academic sources published between 1990 and July 2024, including articles, reports, theses, and dissertations. The review focuses on the impact of foster care programs on both caregiver and animal welfare — the first published peer-reviewed article to do so. It also highlights program successes and challenges, caregiver engagement disparities, future research directions, and recommendations for best practices.

Effects Of Foster Care On Companion Animal Welfare

The researchers found that foster care significantly improves animal welfare outcomes. Dogs show immediate benefits through reduced stress and better rest in a home. They’re five to 20 times more likely to have a live outcome (mainly adoption but also transfer to another shelter), with some programs reporting live outcomes for more than 90% of dogs in foster care. Dogs form secure bonds with foster caregivers that are similar to those of permanent owners, leading to improved cognitive performance and reduced neurotic behaviors. And, while cats need longer adjustment periods, foster care has been shown to enhance kitten health and live outcomes and reduce adult cat euthanasia rates.

Taken together, this suggests that foster programs effectively enhance welfare outcomes across species despite differing needs.

Effects Of Foster Care On Caregiver Well-Being

The review revealed that caregivers experience improved physical health through increased activity levels and better heart rate variability, while also reporting enhanced mental well-being through reduced loneliness and increased emotional fulfillment. Although caregivers often report feelings of loss when pets are adopted, this typically doesn’t prevent future fostering, with 86% expressing willingness to foster again. Strong attachments generally enhance rather than hinder the fostering process, particularly among experienced caregivers who have developed strategies for managing these emotional bonds.

Compared to experienced shelter volunteers, first-time foster caregivers are more likely to adopt their foster dogs. Despite experiencing emotional loss when animals are placed, foster caregivers remain resilient. Secure attachments to fostered pets can reduce stress and support future caregiving, though more research is needed to fully understand these dynamics.

Developing And Evaluating Foster Care Programs

Despite demonstrated benefits of foster programs, their implementation in U.S. shelters remains limited. From the papers they reviewed, the researchers found that less than 10% of shelter dogs experienced foster care between 2015 and 2016, with programs primarily focused on animals with behavioral or medical needs. The number of active foster programs decreased by 10% in 2020 compared to 2018.

Research on successful foster programs highlights several key drivers: caregiver support reduces negative emotional impact, proper training enhances retention, and community involvement improves program success. However, only 70% of caregivers report adequate initial training, while less than half receive essential resources like food, supplies, mentorship, and consistent communication.

Caregivers indicate that additional behavioral training (25%), improved organizational communication (15%), and better support and supplies (14%) would enhance their ability to continue fostering. Programs that welcome community members without prior shelter relationships show greater success, possibly due to increased visibility in and engagement with the community.

During COVID-19, animal shelters initially saw dramatic increases in foster care interest, with adoption requests rising from 50 to 200 daily and foster placements increasing 70% in major cities. However, as the researchers note, these gains were short-lived. By June 2020, foster rates returned to pre-pandemic levels, especially in municipal shelters. Post-pandemic data show even more concerning trends: in 2023, dog adoptions decreased 5% compared to 2019, while shelter intakes increased 4% since 2021, with some seeing rises in relinquishment as people returned to regular schedules.

Challenges, Obstacles, And Equity In Fostering

The researchers identified key challenges that impact animal foster care sustainability. Many caregivers (74%) stop fostering due to scheduling conflicts, while approximately half report burnout and insufficient shelter support.

Emotional challenges are significant, with 78% experiencing grief when foster pets are adopted. Caregivers also report heightened stress when handling animals with medical or behavioral needs — the latter being three times more likely to be returned from foster care. Practical obstacles include financial burden (54%), home disruption (9%), and conflict with resident pets (7%).

This combination of emotional, practical, and institutional challenges underscores the need for enhanced support systems and specialized training, particularly for caregivers managing difficult cases.

Research also shows significant inequity in shelter foster programs. Well-resourced shelters can recruit community-wide, while under-resourced ones rely on existing relationships. Foster populations lack diversity, being mainly white, female, and under 65. Housing and transportation barriers limit lower-income participation, while Indigenous and Hispanic/Latinx communities remain under-served, highlighting the need for more inclusive outreach.

Limitations

This review has several limitations including its primary focus on U.S. and Canadian programs, with little representation from Asia, Australia, and South America. The experiences of subjects represented in the reviewed literature were primarily those of white, female-identifying individuals in North America and Europe. The publications included in the review were limited to English only and emphasized dog fostering programs, with less examination of cat and small animal foster care systems, which are under-researched.

Recommendations

Fostering benefits both animals and caregivers and, yet, by 2020, only 78% of U.S. shelters had foster programs, with resource levels directly impacting success rates.

Whether animal advocates are looking to develop, grow, or simply maintain a foster program, the researchers provide a number of suggestions to enhance future fostering efforts. These include:

• Implementing a stepwise approach for new caregivers to onboard them more gradually;
• Providing caregivers with consistent communication and adequate support services from shelter staff; and
• Increasing outreach to marginalized communities that focus on inclusive, equitable practices.