Question

I’m from Massachusetts, and after our close friends had two very successful transactions with a great adoption foundation in Vermont, we decided it was finally time for us to adopt. We cleared all the processing and were informed that we were approved to adopt. Now the foster is refusing to give the dog up after only fostering for under 48 hours. This is first time the foundation has had anything like this happen in 20 years. Please share your thoughts and thank you so much in advance!

Answer

Prospective adopters generally do not have rights to an animal they have not yet adopted. An adoption agency/foundation may be able to successfully sue a foster parent for refusing to give up a fostered animal (that would depend on the terms of the agreement the agency/foundation entered into with the foster parent).

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