While a growing number of Maine people have opened their homes to foster pets, a lot of dogs and cats are still out there without homes, creating a never-ending cycle of need for the people who try to take care of the animals.

Angela Poulin, the adoption coordinator at the Androscoggin Greater Humane Society in Lewiston, says you can never have too many people fostering. “Our foster program is rapidly growing and our need for fosters will only increase as the weather gets warmer.”

“We always need fosters,” agrees Leanne Ryan at Passion for Pets Rescue in Brunswick. “There’s definitely a shortage in the rescue world.”

Want to get involved?

Here are three Maine sources, but reach out to the animal shelter in your area for other possible foster programs.

• Passion for Pets Rescue: https://www.pprorg.com/
• Greater Androscoggin Humane Society: https://gahumane.org/
• Maine Lab Rescue: https://www.mainelabrescue.com/

Every program is a little different, but in most cases, those running the programs attempt to make it easy to be a potential foster “parent” once they confirm the person is qualified and the home is appropriate.

“We try to make our foster program as barrier-free and inclusive as possible,” Poulin says of her program. “This means that fostering with GAHS is feasible for anyone regardless of income, length of commitment, or where they live.”

At GAHS, Poulin says, “The process of becoming a foster with GAHS is very quick and easy. The first step is to fill out a foster survey either on our website, gahumane.org, or in person at the shelter. Once we have an application I will reach out with more information about our program and an online orientation that covers expectations and all our different types of fosters. All fosters need to provide a background check before taking an animal. We can accept checks run by previous employers or we can run one for $25. Once they have a foster animal, they are responsible for transporting the animal back to the shelter when they’re due for updated vaccines. This ends up being about every two weeks.”