Before Assigning
The foster must be Active or In Training, have available capacity, and the pet must not already be in a conflicting active placement. When the foster cannot receive pets, the Assignments panel shows a notice and does not offer Assign Pet.
Assigning, confirming, transferring, and returning pets requires the Adoption & Foster Counselor, Volunteer, Privileged, or Admin role. Volunteers cannot remove an assignment, and Pet Editors and Viewers can only view assignments.
Create an Assignment
- Open the foster profile.
- Find Assignments.
- Click Assign Pet.
- Select one or more eligible pets.
- Choose the required start date.
- Add an optional end date and notes.
- Click Add Foster assignment.
The dialog shows current placement and capacity context. Each selected pet creates a separate Pending assignment.
You can also start a placement from a pet's Placements section with Add Foster, which is offered only while the pet is in care.
Review Assignments
Filter the panel by All, Pending, Active, Completed, or Canceled. Each row shows the pet, species or breed, dates, status, duration, notes, and available actions.
Assignment Actions
- Pending: Click Confirm to activate it. A future-dated assignment shows Scheduled and cannot be confirmed early.
- Active: Use Transfer to move the pet or End foster to return the pet to the organization.
- Any displayed status: Use the edit icon for dates, notes, or assignment status.
- Remove: Delete an assignment entered in error.
The pet name opens the pet profile.
Edit an Assignment
The edit dialog updates start date, end date, notes, and status. For an active assignment, its End foster button opens the same End foster dialog as the assignment row. A placement that starts in the future cannot be set to Active until its start day.
The assigned pet is not changed in this dialog. If the wrong pet was selected, remove the erroneous assignment and create the correct one.
Capacity
Capacity compares the foster's configured limit with active assignments. A missing capacity is treated as unlimited for placement warnings. Confirming a pending placement, creating an active one or setting a placement to Active, or transferring a pet to a foster who is already at capacity is refused with a message saying the foster is full. Editing the dates or notes of a placement that is already active is still allowed after the foster's capacity is lowered below their current pets.
End a Real Placement
Use End foster, Transfer, or an appropriate status update rather than deleting history. End foster returns the pet to the organization and ends the placement. Click it on the active assignment in the foster's Assignments, in the assignment's edit dialog, or on the foster row of the pet's Placements tab. In the dialog, set the Return date (now by default, never in the future or before the placement started), add a Reason and notes, choose the pet's New status when it is Fostered, then click End foster. The new status defaults to the in-care status the pet had before the placement, or Available; a pet that is no longer Fostered keeps its current status. Transfer completes the current assignment and creates an active assignment for the receiving foster from the transfer date.
Related
Place a litter together
Open a pet’s Pet Family section and choose Assign litter to foster. Review the names and number of pets before choosing a foster. Only litter members still in care are included. The foster needs enough available slots for the whole group.
Care this week
The foster profile’s Care this week panel lists overdue care first, followed by care due during the next seven days for currently assigned pets. Use the calendar link to review the same pets and care types in the full calendar.