Please reach us at abused.pet.refuge@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
If you foster a pet through The PRP you will be allowing a survivor of domestic abuse to escape their abuser and seek refuge, knowing their pet is being cared for temporarily. You will be helping an animal and a person in need.
Financial support is there for you - The PRP reimburses you for food costs and any vets costs. You won't be out of pocket.
Fostering is incredibly rewarding and satisfying
If you are fostering a dog for example you will need a fully enclosed garden or yard.
You will need lots of time to walk the dog and socialise with the dog.
You need to be able to provide us with an email address and phone number and be responsive.
A DBS check is desirable, if you don't have one we may obtain one on your behalf.
You will allow us to carry out a home check on the outside space and living spaces in your home.
We will need to ask quite a lot of questions to ensure the animal you foster will work out for both of you. Moving an animal for a second time usually causes further anxiety and stress on them, we want to get that suitability correct right at the beginning of the process.
The length of foster care is always hard to determine, as it depends on how far the survivor is through their rehabilitation and how severe their situation was to begin with. Also how quickly they can be in a safe place and be able to be reunited with their pet. The fostering could just be for a week as an example, but generally tends to be for months not weeks. There is no definite timescales for this however.
Generally the pet comes with their own bed, toys, collar, leads etc. If anything is missing we will reimburse you for these on production of a receipt. As mentioned, the charity pays for the food and vets costs.
All foster carers will be allocated a Foster Carer Liaison Officer who they will be able to contact. They in turn liaise with the owner of the pet or their representative. You will never have direct contact with the owner of the animal.
As our pets have come from backgrounds involving abusive and dangerous situations, you will never be fostering a pet that comes from your own immediate area.
You will never have contact with the owner or know the owner, so as to keep you anonymous and safe.
You will sign a contract with The PRP, which has been drafted around your safety and any precautions which may need to be taken. One example of these will be you will not be allowed to post photos or details of the pet you are fostering on any social media platforms.
You may learn about the depths to which humans can sink when abusing their loved ones. It can be very difficult to deal with the emotions that this evokes. We offer counselling to support our volunteers with their mental health. We all need to talk sometimes, and we encourage everyone to do so.
As with all charities, there are a host of tasks that need doing, and a host of skills needed to do them! Whatever your skill set, there is bound to be something you could do to help us with our work. Email us to ask, and we will discuss the options with you. From social media work to outreach in public, from delivering posters to drafting documents, let us know what you can do, and we will welcome you.