Foster Coordinator

Oregon Humane•Portland, OR

5d•$24 - $26•Hybrid

About The Position

The Foster Team plays a vital role in animal welfare by coordinating the placement of shelter animals into foster homes and supporting those placements through comprehensive training, communication, and resource management. This team actively builds and maintains a strong community of foster volunteers, develops educational materials and support tools, and matches animals to foster homes based on behavioral, medical, and logistical needs. Foster staff collaborate cross-departmentally with Medical, Admissions, Behavior, and Shelter Operations to ensure appropriate, timely placement and return of foster animals, while continuously working to improve foster program accessibility, capacity, and impact. Through this work, the Foster Team directly contributes to reducing length of stay, improving animal outcomes, and creating a more flexible and responsive sheltering system. The Foster department is an extension of animal housing within the homes of our dedicated foster parents. These volunteers function as stewards for the animals while they are in their care. Partnering with us to provide a safe, consistent environment outside of the shelter experience. Fostering animals allows Oregon Humane to take in and care for medically fragile, underweight/age, behaviorally regressing, protective custody, excess animals and animals that are struggling in the shelter environment. During their time of care with Oregon Humane, we ensure each animal receives everything they may need from the basics of daily care to advanced medical services, behavioral support or just a place to decompress from all they have been through before. As a member of the foster team, you will collaborate each day across multiple departments, a diverse team of colleagues, and many generous volunteers; to assess, place and support each animal that spends time in this program. Success in this role will come for someone who can juggle multiple priorities, swiftly switch direction, embraces change, enjoys a very fast-paced environment but can still be self-directed during the slower periods. You must be able to assume positive intent and remain calm in high stress/highly emotionally situations. Foster parent volunteers are essential to this department and the daily lifesaving work we do. We think of them as clients and strive to create a volunteer opportunity for them that is welcoming, consistent, where they feel cared for. Empathy and the ability to de-escalate conflicts are key-components in this role.

Requirements

2 years related work experience in customer service, retail, food service, animal care/handling, and/or a high-pressure, high-volume work environment.
Knowledge and experience working with a wide variety of dog, cat, and other small animal species and breeds.
Demonstrates trauma-informed communication, compassion fatigue awareness, and the ability to provide emotional support or resources to foster parents navigating loss or stress.
Able to solve problems in a constructive and positive manner
Able and willing to work with others in a collaborative, solution-oriented manner; shares relevant information with others in a prompt and accurate manner.
Able to maintain a professional, calm demeanor and exercise sound judgment during high-workload, emotionally charged situations and in all interactions with the public, partner agencies, donors, staff, and volunteers.
Able to manage multiple tasks at one time; quickly and accurately shift attention among tasks under distracting conditions without loss of accuracy or appearance of frustration.
Open to changing situations and opportunities, demonstrating a willingness to consider new ways of doing things and diversity of opinion.
Ability to recognize signs of a medical or behavioral emergency and immediately escalate to Medical staff or the Foster Manager.
Able to work full time schedule including at least one regular weekend day.
Exhibit honesty, discretion, and integrity always.
Able to exercise sound judgment and maintain a professional demeanor during all interactions with the public, partner agencies, donors, staff and volunteers.
Proficiency using the Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills - able to communicate with a diverse population in a consistently informative, respectful and professional manner.

Nice To Haves

1+ year(s) animal shelter and/or veterinary medical experience.
Basic knowledge of animal behavior and training techniques.
Experience with conflict resolution and mediation.
Experience coordinating across departments.
Public speaking or teaching experience.

Responsibilities

Identify, match, and retain foster caregivers according to experience level and program needs in a timely manner.
Gathers and maintains accurate foster program data and records using Excel and internal databases; generates routine reports and brings observed discrepancies or issues to the Foster Manager's attention.
Coordinates, trains, and communicates to all foster volunteers in an organized and timely manner.
Builds and sustains a positive, supportive, and inclusive community for foster volunteers, including recognition efforts, conflict resolution, and proactive check-ins.
Maintains and distributes foster care literature and materials; drafts new or updated content for the Foster Manager's review, editing, and policy-alignment approval prior to rollout.
Produce activity reports, provide specific training, encourage accurate reporting of hours by foster volunteers, and address issues of non-compliance.
Maintains and organizes foster caregiver supplies.
Works with the public, staff, students, and volunteers to resolve complaints and issues in a diplomatic and professional manner.
Provides vaccinations during wellness exams.
Works in a manner that reflects a safe environment for animals, the public, volunteers, and other employees.
Understands and supports established policies and position statements regarding animal welfare subjects.
Solve problems in a timely, professional, and positive manner.
Assumes positive intent with members of the public, co-workers, foster parents, and any individual you may interact with as a representative of The Oregon Humane Society.
Ability to adapt schedule as requested by leadership within reason to meet needs of animal intake including emergency situations.
Participates in a paid rotating on-call system to respond to urgent foster care needs outside of standard business hours, such as medical or behavioral concerns and unanticipated animal returns. On-call duties are scheduled in advance and equitably distributed among Foster Coordinators and Medical staff. Staff are trained in trauma-informed communication and supported by established escalation protocols to ensure that both foster parents and team members are met with care, clarity, and consistency
During this time, you must be able to immediately proceed to the OHS, Portland campus if a medical team member requests your assistance.
Can communicate clearly and adapt style to meet the needs of fosters, clients, peers, and other internal departments.
Perform any other duty as requested by management.