Our Adoption Procedure
Please take a few moments to read the following explanation of our adoption
policies and the steps that make up the process. Adopting an animal is an involved
process. You may not have immediate
access to a particular animal. Therefore
it is important to understand two things; (1) the process is the same for everyone, and (2) it’s
not our intent to inconvenience you.
Rather everything we do is for the best interests of the animals in our
care and is aimed at giving them the best possible chances to find permanent
homes.
Steps you’ll go through in the adoption
process:
The
first thing you will be asked to do is submit an application for adoption. It is not necessary for you to have already
selected your perfect mate to submit this paperwork. We ask that you complete the application as
completely as possible, using additional paper if necessary. Please make sure to include your
veterinarian’s phone number.
Upon
the receipt of your application, you will be contacted by a HART Representative
for a phone interview. You may also
receive a call from the Foster Family that is taking care of the animal you are
interested in. Our Foster Families know
these animals’ unique wants and needs, and only desire to help our animals find
the perfect homes for them, as well as help you find the perfect mate for you.
The
process of approving or denying an application takes 2-3 days, depending on the
number of applications received at a time.
Once your application has been approved by the HART Representative, you
may arrange a visit with the animal you wish to adopt. This may be done in your home, the Foster
Home, or another location. This is a
great time to ask any questions regarding house training, obedience training,
veterinary care or anything else.
You
will be asked to sign an adoption contract and pay an adoption fee. This fee covers spaying/neutering, veterinary
care, deworming and vaccines your pet has
received. This fee will vary depending
on age of animal and special needs deemed by HART.
HART of
Please Understand: All our people are
volunteers. They donate their time after working full time jobs. We don’t intend to inconvenience or be
evasive with you, often times our volunteers are managing multiple adoptions
simultaneously. We want you to understand
that it is stressful and upsetting, in fact, down right devastating, for the
animals, for our volunteers, and most importantly for you when adoptions don’t
work out and pets have to come back to us.
A bad adoption experience can sour some people on dogs or cats or on
rescue groups for life. So try to bear
with us. Please be patient and
understand that going through this process really is the best policy - for all
of us.
