Adopters

What Are Adopters?

Adopters are people who have applied to adopt, are interested in specific pets, or have completed adoptions through your organization. PawPlacer keeps their contact details, application answers, linked pets, meet-and-greets, documents, notes, status, and adoption history in one profile.

Adopters List

Open Adopters from the main navigation to manage adopter records. The list uses the standard PawPlacer table layout with search, status filtering, tag filtering, sorting, pagination, and an Add Adopter action.

Each row can show:

• Name: The adopter's name, avatar, and compact tag badges.
• Prospective Pets: Pets the adopter is interested in but has not adopted yet.
• Adopted Pets: Pets the adopter has adopted, with returned pets marked in the avatar overlay.
• Linked Roles: Foster or volunteer roles connected to the same person.
• Tags: Organization-specific adopter tags.
• Status: Active, Pending, Inactive, Blocked, Suspended, or Denied.
• Custom Fields: Any synced custom fields from your adopter form.
• Updated: When the record was last changed.

Use the search box to find adopters by name, the status filter to isolate pending or archived records, and the tag filter to segment adopters by program, priority, event, or other labels your team uses.

Adopter Profile

Click an adopter's name to open the compact profile view. The hero shows the adopter's avatar, contact shortcuts, status badge, tags, and summary metrics:

• Adopter Since
• Pets Adopted
• Meet & Greets
• Total Donated

The Start Adoption button appears for active adopters with pending pets. The status badge is clickable when status changes are allowed. Pending applications use the approval alert instead of the regular status-change dialog.

Profile Layout

The profile is split into a left information rail and a main work area.

The left rail includes:

• Contact: Email, phone, and current application/status value.
• Home: Address when present.
• Adoption Notes: Profile notes when present.
• Status Notes: Notes from the latest status change when present.
• Activity Timeline: Recent status changes, meet-and-greets, adoption records, documents, and profile creation.
• Documents: A compact document manager for adopter files.
• Team Notes: Internal notes for staff with the Adoption Counselor role.

The main area includes:

• Pets in Their Care: Pending, adopted, and returned pet cards with filters and adoption actions.
• Meet & Greets: Scheduled and past meetings with edit/delete actions.
• Custom Details: Custom form answers when your adopter template has displayable fields.
• Email History: Emails sent to the adopter from PawPlacer.
• AI Matches: Matching recommendations below the profile content when AI matching is enabled.

If the person also has foster or volunteer records, a role switcher appears near the top of the profile.

Add an Adopter

1. Open Adopters.
2. Click Add Adopter.
3. Complete the adopter form.
4. Click Add Adopter to save.

The fields depend on your adopter form template and can include contact information, housing, preferences, references, agreement fields, and any custom questions your organization uses.

Processing Adoptions

Adoptions start from an active adopter profile:

1. Add one or more pending pets to the adopter.
2. Click Start Adoption in the profile action area, or click Adopt on a pending pet card.
3. Choose Use PawPlacer Checkout or Complete In Person.
4. Complete the selected adoption workflow.

For full details, see Processing Adoptions.

Permissions

Managing adopters requires the Adoption Counselor role. Users without access should ask an organization owner to update their permissions in Settings > Members.

Next Steps

• Add pets to an adopter's profile
• Process adoptions
• Create public adoption links
• Manage adopter status
• Schedule meet and greets
• Work with notes and documents
• Manage dual-role contacts
• Track adoption history
• Manage adopter records