BRBCR HANDBOOK: The Adoption Process

The purpose of writing a biography for your foster dog and taking photos is to engage potential adopters and invite further contact. You do not need to include every detail about the dog—if in doubt, shorter is often better. However, honesty and full disclosure is required.

Click here for helpful information about Writing a Biography.

Applications are submitted on our website and will appear in your Groups.io email. It is courteous for the foster parent to reply to all applicants within 24 hours with a simple confirmation email to thank them for submitting an application and that a volunteer will contact them in the next few days if more information is needed.

It is possible that your foster dog will have numerous applications, many of which will be inappropriate for your foster dog. Do not feel pressure to promise anything to any applicant. You will need time to think through the applications and possibly request guidance from other BRBCR volunteers.

Once you have found an applicant that appears to be a good match, you will reach out to them to conduct a phone interview. If your conversation with the applicant confirms that they may be a good match for your foster dog, you can proceed with the rest of the approval process. You will also need to contact the other applicants to let them know that your foster dog is no longer available.

Click here for more information about Receiving Applications and How to Respond.

Phone calls to veterinary and personal references are conducted after the foster parent has spoken with and chosen an applicant who seems to be a good match. The foster parent usually performs this task, but another volunteer can be enlisted to check some or all references via a request on the Groups.io email.

Click here for more information and suggested questions for Reference Checks. 

If the references are positive, the next step is a visit to the applicant’s home. The only exceptions are for an applicant who has adopted from BRBCR in the past and still lives in the same home, or for an applicant who has been pre-approved for adoption.

You will likely want to do the HV yourself if you live close enough, but if not, post a note through the Groups.io email asking for a volunteer who lives near the applicant to do the home visit. The person conducting the Home Visit will need to submit a report form which can be completed through our Online Home Visit Form, or it can be downloaded from this PDF file and emailed to brbcrdogs@gmail.com.

Click here for more information about Home Visits.

Once the home visit is approved, you can arrange for the applicant to meet your foster dog. The applicant must be willing to meet at the foster dog’s location. Many applicants are surprised to learn that we do not have a brick-and-mortar facility that they can visit, and they may be concerned at the distance they would have to drive to meet the dog. It sometimes helps to explain to the applicant that visiting the dog on its “home turf,” where he or she is likely to be more comfortable, will allow the applicant to get the best sense of the dog.

Click here for more information about the Meet and Greet.

If the Meet and Greet is successful, and you decide to approve the applicant, your foster dog can start the Two-Week Trial. All paperwork will need to be completed and a check for the adoption fee will need to be written to Blue Ridge Border Collie Rescue before your foster dog leaves.

During this trial period, your foster dog is still your foster dog. You will need to check in with the applicant frequently enough to get an accurate picture of how things are going. You know your foster dog better than anyone else and can pick up on things that will help this be a successful adoption.

Click here for more information about the Two-Week Trial.

At the end of the two-week trial period, contact the adopter to confirm that they want to make the adoption official. If they decide that this is not the right dog for them at anytime during the trial period, they should bring the dog back and you will need to cancel all paperwork and return their check.

If the adoption is official, tell the Groups.io email group that your foster dog is being adopted by “______”. At that time you will also complete the adoption by sending all paperwork and the check for the adoption fee to the BRBCR Treasurer.

Click here for more information about Finalizing the Adoption and a complete list of paperwork to send to the Treasurer.