Clinic to Placement Foster Coordinator

CommonSpirit Health • Austin, TX

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Clinic to Placement Foster Coordinator plays a key role in advancing the goals of APA!’s foster program and placement team, with a focus on medical foster recruitment and retention. This position is responsible for developing and managing the systems, programs, and volunteer infrastructure that support animals transitioning from APA!’s Medical Clinic into foster and adoptive homes.

This position contributes directly to APA!’s mission to increase the live release rate across Texas by supporting a sustainable, inclusive, and high-impact model for medical foster coordination.

This position plays a key role in advancing APA!’s homes-first strategy and strengthening a volunteer-powered, community-centered medical foster model.

The Clinic to Foster Placement Coordinator is responsible for managing their daily responsibilities, maintaining clear priorities, and delivering consistent, high-quality work that aligns with APA!’s values and goals. This includes staying organized, using data or feedback to inform decisions, and following through on key tasks and responsibilities with minimal oversight. This is a hands-on, mission-driven role focused on results, reliability, and teamwork.

APA! is a volunteer-powered organization, so every staff member is expected to work alongside and support volunteers. The Clinic to Placement Foster Coordinator collaborates closely with volunteers to complete day-to-day tasks, helps create a positive and inclusive environment, and actively contributes to a culture of shared effort and mutual respect.

This position may involve shift flexibility, weekend hours, and responsiveness during times of high need.

Every individual at APA! is responsible for working in collaboration with volunteers; making sure volunteers are recruited, trained and feel impactful through their efforts at APA!. A core part of this role is creating a welcoming and empowering experience for volunteers, including assisting with onboarding, training, and volunteer engagement as part of the day-to-day workflow.

Requirements

• 1–3 years experience in animal welfare, medical coordination, foster programs, or case management preferred
• Committed to embodying APA!’s Core Values: Innovation, Respect, Drive, Resourcefulness, and Inclusion and cultural values: Humble, Hungry, Smart
• Commitment to APA!'s customer experience expectations
• Passion for working well with staff, volunteers, and customers—helping all individuals feel successful, appreciated, and connected to APA!’s mission
• Strong commitment to volunteer engagement and support; dedicated to working well with volunteers across all roles
• Comfortable working cross-functionally and serving as a liaison between volunteers, customers, and team members
• Effective written and verbal communication skills; able to interpret rules, procedures, and instructional materials
• Self-starter with strong time management; able to work independently and collaboratively
• Excellent interpersonal skills; maintains a calm and professional presence in all situations
• Strong attention to detail and high standards for quality
• Adaptable to change and able to perform related duties as needed
• Dedicated to delivering an exceptional and inclusive customer experience
• Must be able to on occasion lift 40-50 pounds
• Must be able to work around animals (including diseased, injured, and/or potentially aggressive animals), loud noises, chlorine or other chemicals, and inclement weather
• Must be able to comfortably interact with cats/dogs of various health levels, including cats who may carry zoonotic diseases such as ringworm, scabies, intestinal parasites, etc.
• Must be able to walk big dogs that pull and jump 
• Able to be on your feet for multiple hours of the day
• Must be able to visually observe people and animals from up to 150 feet away
• Ability to hear normal speech at close contact and shouting up to 150 feet away with the ability to hear and discern dog vocalizations both soft and loud
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to pass all required dog handling training required for this position
• Must be able to focus in a loud and busy environment despite distractions
• Must be able to walk around shelter as needed - uneven ground, keeping a safe distance from dogs and handlers
• Will sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, stoop, bend, stretch, squat, kneel, grasp, grip, put fingers together firmly and reach above and below shoulder level, lift and/or carry up to 30 pounds and push and pull up to 50 pounds for situations of moving supplies and setting up for events; repetitively use hands to operate computers; flex the neck upward and downward; twist the neck and the waist.

Responsibilities

• Creating and maintaining standardized operating procedures (SOPs) related to clinic to placement and medical foster programs.
• Building and maintaining specialized medical foster programs
• Developing foster education resources, performing hands-on training for medical fosters/adopters.
• Recruiting and training volunteer medical foster support teams
• Generating early placement leads for clinical animals
• Reducing medical-related returns and in-clinic length of stay
• Actively contribute to a volunteer-powered culture by partnering with volunteers during every shift and helping create an inclusive, welcoming environment
• Work alongside volunteers to complete daily tasks, ensuring the work is shared and collaborative—not siloed
• Support the recruitment and onboarding process by welcoming new volunteers and helping them get oriented to the program
• Help retain volunteers by offering encouragement, guidance, and feedback during shared work
• Recommend strong volunteers for deeper involvement or specialized roles to your supervisor or volunteer manager
• Contribute to a positive culture by recognizing volunteer contributions through appreciation, gratitude, and shoutouts
• Help set volunteers up for success by clearly explaining tasks, providing hands-on guidance, and offering in-the-moment support
• Create and maintain SOPs outlining:
• Medical clearance to foster workflow
• Discharge documentation and disclaimers
• Communication handoffs between teams
• Post-transfer follow-up schedule
• Identify bottlenecks in clinic-to-placement movement, as well as medical foster-to-adopter movement,  and implement solutions
• Maintain updated documentation library for commonly asked questions, common medical needs (pilling, subq fluids, etc) 
• Regularly review animals that require a medical attribute, and animals in a pre-adopt medical status, to see if they can be moved through the system and have a final outcome faster. 
• Build and expand foster programs for:
• Post-surgical recovery
• Medical observation and treatment
• Ringworm and infectious disease quarantine and treatment
• Medical-behavior crossover cases
• Develop standardized discharge toolkits including:
• Medication instructions
• Symptom tracking sheets
• Escalation guidance
• Ensure fosters have clear expectations and support pathways
• Develop accessible medical education resources such as:
• Quick-reference guides
• FAQ libraries
• Short educational videos
• Online modules
• Host medical foster recruitment sessions, medical foster hands on training sessions, and Q&A forums
• Create and maintain a centralized medical resource hub in conjunction with APATec
• Proactively equip fosters with knowledge to reduce crisis-based communication
• Recruit, onboard, and train volunteers to:
• Assist with routine medical check-ins with fosters
• Monitor symptom logs
• Support supply coordination
• Escalate urgent concerns appropriately
• Aid in recruiting and training medical fosters
• Develop triage guidelines and role descriptions
• Track volunteer engagement and retention
• Create early placement leads for animals in medical care
• Recruit medical fosters 
• Collaborate with Marketing to increase visibility of clinical foster needs
• Ensure animals remain actively marketed during recovery when appropriate
• Support clinic-to-foster-to-adoption pipeline efficiency
• Track and report on:
• Length of stay in clinic
• Number of animals and length of time spent with an MC attribute, and pre-adopt for medical status
• Time from ready to discharge from hospital  to foster placement
• Medical foster retention
• Adoption conversion rates for medical animals
• Return rates for clinical placements
• Volume and type of medical escalations
• Identify trends and recommend operational improvements.
• Support discharge handoffs and foster consultations
• Troubleshoot medical foster concerns in partnership with clinic staff
• Maintain on-site presence as needed to support clinic transitions
• Uphold APA!’s customer experience standards
• Must demonstrate dependability, accountability, time management, use of reasoning, and good judgment skills
• Attend and participate in all required training sessions and meetings
• Maintain open and consistent communication with Program Manager or designee, supervisor, and other colleagues
• Partner with Volunteer Managers to learn about the volunteer programs and support volunteers interested in your department on an ongoing basis
• Able to react to change productively and perform other related duties as assigned
• Able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed
• Able to work in a high-volume, fast-paced, high-stress environment
• Comfortable working autonomously when given goals and deadlines

Benefits

• Austin Pets Alive! is proud to offer a competitive benefits package for full-time employees, including subsidized employer-sponsored medical coverage, subsidized and voluntary life insurance, voluntary dental, vision and short-term disability options, all effective the first day of employment. We also offer voluntary wellness and emergency sick plans, up to 2% match on 401(K) retirement plan, supplemental benefits, flexible spending accounts and additional life coverage. Full-time employees receive 10 paid holidays and accrue 10 days paid time off during the first year of employment, with an additional 5 days of PTO accrual upon completion of 12 months of employment.  Employees will also receive professional development opportunities through APA!’s ongoing mission to advance our animal welfare professionals in our life-saving work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed