Adoption Process FAQ
Peace For Paws Ohio’s goal is to place homeless animals into loving homes and families. We take special care to match the right home with the right animal, ensuring a lifetime of love for both the pet and the adopter. To ensure the best matches are made, we have a process that has been proven effective in determining the best homes for our animals. Our adoption process may seem time consuming or unnecessarily complicated, but please understand that we have our animals’ best interests at heart. We strive to find the best homes possible for our animals, as well as find the right animal for you and your lifestyle.
Please understand that our organization is completely run by unpaid volunteers, who dedicate their free time to help the animals. The entire adoption process takes time; we are unwilling to sacrifice being thorough when the animal’s future is at stake. We thank you for your time and patience throughout our adoption process.
Step 1 – Fill out a Pre-Adoption Application
The first step is to have you fill out an adoption application. This application can be found online on our website and will tell us about you and your lifestyle, training beliefs and background with animals.
Step 2 – Application Preliminary Review
Our application review volunteers will initially screen your application to determine if all necessary information was provided. If not you will be contacted to either fill out another application or provide additional information.
Step 3 – Landlord Approval Verified
If it is determined that you rent your home, your landlord will be contacted to make sure you have approval to have an animal in your home. We also ask about any breed or size limitations.
If your landlord does not allow for a animal in your home, your application will be denied at this point in the process.
Step 4 – Veterinary References Contacted
Our volunteers will contact the veterinary reference(s) you provided to determine if all your current pets are spayed/neutered and up to date on vaccinations. If you don’t have any current pets, we will ask about the veterinary care that your previous pets received. If you have never owned a pet, this step is skipped.
If your veterinary reference(s) cannot verify the spay/neuter and vaccination status of current or previous pets, processing of your application will be stopped until you can provide this information.
Step 5 – Personal References Contacted
Our volunteers will contact your personal references and ask them questions in regards to whether they consider you to be a responsible pet owner.
This is the portion of the process that can take the most amount of time. It is helpful if you contact your references and ask them to return our calls in a timely manner.
If our reference checking volunteers have any major concerns about adopting a animal to you, based on communication with your references, your application may be denied at this point in the process.
Step 6 – Meeting between Approved Applicant & Available Animals
Our organization does not have a shelter where the animals can be visited. Our animals are in foster homes. We do NOT arrange meetings between interested individuals and our fosters until an applicant has been conditionally approved via the adoption application process (Steps 1-5 above).
Once you have been conditionally approved, a volunteer (usually the foster) will contact you about scheduling a time for you to meet the animal(s) you are interested in. This meeting may occur at the foster’s residence or your home.
Our organization requires home visits to determine that the animal will be living in a safe environment. This is an informal chance for us to get to know you, your lifestyle, home environment and determine which anmial(s) in our program might be the best fit. The home visit volunteer will do a short walk-through of your home and yard to ensure its safety and to advise on any areas of concern. All household members must be present for the home visit.
If our volunteer performing the home visit has any major concerns about your home environment, or if you refuse a home visit, your application will be denied at this point in the process.
Just because your adoption application has been conditionally approved, you are NOT guaranteed a particular animal. For some animals we receive many applications so we may allow multiple applicants to have a meeting with the animal before we choose the home that we feel will be the best fit for the animal. Also, if the volunteer involved in the meeting with you and the animal does not feel you are a good fit for the animal, you may be denied adoption of that particular animal but you *may* be allowed to adopt another animal.
Step 7 – Foster to Adopt (Optional)
If you have decided upon an animal that you would like to adopt, an optional adoption trial period, or Foster to Adopt period might be agreed upon. This trial can last up to three days. At the start of the trial you are required to sign both a foster and an adoption contract and to provide payment of the adoption fee. Checks received will not be cashed until the adoption has been made official.
If needed, our organization can provide a kennel/crate, food/water bowls, leash and collar for you to use during the trial period. We may also provide a small supply of animal food that will allow you to transition the animal’s diet to another food.
If at any time during the trial period you are having issues with the animal, please reach out to the animal’s foster immediately. Any medical attention during this trial period should be handled by a Peace For Paws veterinarian. Emergency/After Hours contact information for our veterinarians will be provided. If you take one of our animal’s to a veterinarian on your own accord, this will be at your expense and you will not be reimbursed.
Step 8 – Adoption Official
If, at the end of the Foster to Adopt period, or if a decision to move forward with the adoption has been agreed upon, the adoption will be considered official. At this time, your adoption fee will be deposited and will no longer be refundable. We will also mail out to you all veterinary paperwork we have for the animal.
Step 9 – Optional Post Adoption Follow-up Visit
Our adoption contract contains a clause that allows one of our volunteers or a representative the ability to perform a follow-up visit. We may require such a visit if we feel that the terms of the adoption contract are not being met. Peace For Paws Ohio is committed to the life, health and well-being of every animal we place for the remainder of that animal’s life. Should the adoption not work out or you need to rehome the animal, we require, by contract, that the animal be returned to us. Please notify us of this ASAP by emailing us at [email protected].