Fostering with pets

The PDSA found in 2023 that 53% of all adults own a pet. Many fostering households will include a pet, and they will be included in the assessment to become a foster carer and be part of ongoing supervision processes for approved foster carers.

Animals can help a foster child explore companionship, acceptance, affection, and care. They can also help them settle into their fostering family. Dogs especially have been shown to help in the attachment behaviour of children, helping them learn how to form relationships, but all pets may offer therapeutic benefits to some children.

Attitudes to all animals differ and can evoke positive or negative feelings dependent on personal experience, culture, and belief. The matching processes should also take into consideration any allergies the child may have to animals. Foster carers should also be aware that occasionally children may pose a risk to their pet due to their own experiences, or because they are unaware of how to react to a pet.

There may also be cultural or religious factors that may need to be taken into account. For example, in the Muslim faith, a dog is not allowed to enter a place of prayer, which may be the child’s bedroom in addition to the mosque.

Sensible measures can minimise the risk to children living in foster care, and many childhoods are enriched by the companionship of a pet. The fostering service will undertake a risk assessment in relation to the pet that will address the measures in place to protect a child. Animals registered or recognised as dangerous or as venomous will usually be deemed incompatible with fostering. The risk assessment will be reviewed regularly and be considered when matching any new child to the foster carers.

Check with the fostering service what policies they have in place in relation to pets when thinking of fostering, or before obtaining any new pet as an approved foster carer.

Explore our pages below for further information on fostering with different types of pet.

Fostering with dogs or cats Fostering with snakes or reptiles Fostering with small pets Fostering with horses or livestock

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Fostering with pets

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