Foster Foster Program
Open Your Home, Change a Life. Be the Bridge to Forever
Why Become a Foster Hero?
Fostering is vital to our mission! Your work makes young, shy, or ill animals adoptable and gives them a chance to find their forever home. Their adoption then allows KAAS to take in additional animals. Fosters are needed for kittens with ringworm, bottle baby kittens, and nervous dogs that do better in a home than a kennel. The shelter covers all expenses of fostering, the animals just need your time and love!
Fosters must provide love and patience for adult, baby, or sick animals. Volunteer fosters should be able to do the following:
- Give general care
- Medicate if necessary
- Take animal for vet care (animal needs to be brought into the shelter)
- Socialize shy or feral animals if needed
- Isolate the animal in a room separate from all other animals if needed
- Make sure their own animals are up-to-date on their vaccinations (Distemper, Parvo, Bordetella, Rabies) and either spayed or neutered
- Accept that the foster animal may not be put up for adoption if deemed unadoptable by the Kearney Area Animal Shelter (fatal illness/disease or dangerous aggression)
All potential fosters must be approved and 21 years of age or older, allow a home visit, and attend a mandatory volunteer orientation class.
FAQs
Find answers to common questions about volunteering at KAAS
A volunteer must be 16 years old to volunteer without a legal guardian. Children between the ages of 10 and 16 may volunteer when accompanied by a parent/guardian who is a registered volunteer. Every volunteer under the age of 19 must have a signed parental consent form, unless the volunteer is enrolled in college and not living at home.
To become a volunteer for KAAS, you'll need to:
- Complete a volunteer application once the program reopens.
- Attend volunteer orientation which is required of all volunteers.
- This class is approximately an hour long and scheduled by the Volunteer Coordinator based on their schedule and the perspective volunteer's schedule. Orientation is designed to give volunteers an overview of what to expect as a volunteer, an overview of the shelter, and our programs, policies, and procedures.
That's why volunteer at the shelter is so great - you volunteer based off YOUR schedule!
After your orientation, we suggest you volunteer at least 4 hours per month to get the most out of your volunteer experience. We have no required minimum commitment, but we ask that you volunteer for 1 hour every 6 months.
Volunteers are needed every day! Our general hours are listed below. During orientation, volunteers will be shown how to schedule themselves via their volunteer profile for available volunteer time slots.
- Monday-Friday
- 10 am - Noon
- 1 pm - 4pm
- Saturday
- 11 am - 3 pm
- Sunday
- Noon - 3 pm
Yes! Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator so we can work with you to make the most of your project.
We accept volunteers who have court ordered community service hours, with some restrictions. These volunteers do not have any contact with shelter pets and may only perform cleaning tasks. Once hours are fulfilled for your offense, volunteers are welcome to go through cat and dog classes to become hands-on with the shelter animals as a volunteer.
- Your offense must not involve a violent crime, theft, drugs, or assault.
- You must not have a law enforcement history regarding the Kearney Area Animal Shelter.
- You must provide all information regarding the court order and/or probation/diversion officer information for follow up by our organization.