In the spirit of the season

from dictionary.com
fos⋅ter –verb
1. to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage: to foster new ideas.
2. to bring up, raise, or rear, as a foster child.
3. to care for or cherish.
4 .British. to place (a child) in a foster home.
5. Obsolete. to feed or nourish.
In the animal rescue world, the word foster has a world of other meanings as well. There are as many different ways to foster as there are lovely animals waiting in the wings.
Waiting you ask? Don't rescues always find space for every pet in need? Maybe in my perfect fantasy world ... but here in the real world each rescue, big or small, can only accept the animals they have space for. To quote a friend of mine who works animal rescue, "its not as hard to fund raise as it is to find committed fosters."
Admittedly, there is no shortage of initial enthusiasm, but rescues everywhere lose a lot of fosters to "their first" Many have no trouble opening their hearts and their homes to bring the pet in ....where it gets sticky is watching the pet go back out the door after what can sometimes be months of nurturing.
In all honesty, the pets listed on Petfinder and on the rescue websites are really only the tip of the iceberg. For everyone that has found safe harbour, more are just 'waiting in the wings'
The need is so great that more than one rescue maintains a waiting list for owner surrenders. Not all of these owners are prepared to be patient until a vacancy turns up ... resulting in a sad series of Unhappy Tails which range from an unhappy visit to the vet ( the subject of how vets who work to save lives should be protected by law from having to kill a perfectly healthy pet is a separate subject for another day ) to the abuse of abandonment.
Fostering is like any other arrangement in life .... the parties involved have a contract and in every case terms can be arranged. If one is unwilling to foster puppies, or feels they lack the training skills to work through behavior issues, they will still be welcomed with open arms.
After all, most of the good pets in need of safe harbour were 'somebody's baby' until for a wide variety of reasons the owner no longer was willing or able to care for their faithful friend.
Things of course vary from group to group, but generally the rescue is responsible for food and vet costs and the foster is responsible for the love. If you are thinking about volunteering, Best Friends has three 'must reads' Become a Foster Parent! , Becoming a Foster Home and Foster Care Handbook .
Another way to make a difference is to volunteer to transport animals. When rescues work miracles on a shoestring, there isn't money for transporting the animals to safety in their new foster home.
While we are all shopping and wrapping, there are good pets in need of a second chance with a more committed human. While we are sledding and skating, good pets will be travelling down another Unhappier Road.
No matter how one celebrates, the spirit of the season is all about compassion and kindness. What time is it? Its always time to put a little love in your heart.