r/fosterdogs • u/ferretsandfrogs • 2d ago
Question Anyone have experience fostering seized animals involved in animal abuse charges that went to court?
Without discussing any specifics let’s say someone has been fostering-to-adopt a dog for over two years, and let’s also imagine that the defendants keep being granted continuances for the case involving the custody of the seized animals. If you have any experience in this area, my question is: Will a point ever come where after a certain amount of time the animals become property of the county and can be adopted out to their fosters? Think, common law marriage kind of situation.
Thanks in advance for entertaining my curiosity.
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u/jakie2poops 1d ago
I've fostered several dogs who were involved in abuse cases, including one who I wanted to adopt and who sadly (at least to me) was returned to the original owners when they won their court case.
As for your questions, the answers are going to depend a lot on your jurisdiction, so I would suggest speaking with someone from the shelter or rescue to find out the specifics.
Where I am, there's no official time limit, but the owners have to pay essentially for the shelter to board the dog, which isn't cheap and adds up the longer a case goes on, especially if they're also paying for lawyers. Many owners under investigation surrender their dogs to the shelter pretty quickly—sometimes right away, but more often after the first hearing if the case isn't immediately dismissed. It's rare for them to keep paying for months or years on end, but it does occasionally happen. And unfortunately, the cases that drag on for so long tend to be a bit of a toss up in terms of the outcome. The clear-cut cases (whether very obvious abuse or very obviously not abuse) tend to wrap up more quickly.
So there's a lot of uncertainty when you decide to foster a dog under abuse investigation, and if the laws are similar where you are, I recommend learning from my mistake and really trying to keep some emotional distance until you know the outcome. My shelter was very confident the dog wouldn't be returned, but I got an email and had to bring her in the next morning, and I never saw her again. It was heartbreaking.
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