SANTA ROSA (CBS SF/BCN) – Sonoma County officials announced this week they are ramping up efforts to recruit foster parents and adoptive families to address a shortage of foster homes in the county.

County officials announced an expansion of a partnership with the national group RaiseAChild to recruit families willing to take in foster children, according to a news release issued Friday.

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The county has entered into a $25,000 contract with RaiseACild for a year-long campaign of community events and multimedia promotions to raise awareness of the needs of local children in foster care.

Fifty to 75 local children are in temporary housing in the county, most at Valley of the Moon Children’s Center — the county’s emergency shelter for youth — according to Meg Easter-Dawson, program development manager for the county’s Department of Human Services’ Family, Youth and Children’s Division.

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“We are experiencing a shortage of foster homes for the children and teens in need,” Easter-Dawson said in the statement. “Valley of the Moon Children’s Center is meant to only provide temporary housing for up to 10 days. But we have children, especially teens, who must stay much longer because we don’t have a foster home for them to go to. Not having a stable foster home just furthers their trauma and makes it harder for them to heal.”

Learn more about the benefits of becoming a foster or foster-to-adopt parent by attending a free informational meeting on Zoom. The next webinar in English will be held on Thursday, May 12 at 6 pm and the next webinar in Spanish will be held on Wednesday, May 11 at 6 pm

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For more information, see Advocate@RaiseAChild.org or call (877) 417-1440. More events and information are on the nonprofit’s website.

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OAKLAND (KPIX) – During the COVID lockdown, record numbers of people brought new pets into their homes, in many cases from animal shelters and rescues.

With COVID restrictions lifted and people back to work, shelters are now seeing the opposite – a record number of people wanting to give up their dogs.

Rocket Dog Rescue in Oakland currently has so many dogs that they have set up makeshift kennels in their lobby.

“We got too full almost overnight. The shelters are overloaded, ”said Pali Boucher, founder of Rocket Dog Rescue.

She founded Rocket Dog 20 years ago and said she saw a record number of people wanting to give up their dogs. She receives dozens of emails and SMS requests every day.

“I’ve never had so many re-homings!” She said.

Boucher says two things happen: some people adopted dogs when the lockdown began and don’t want a dog’s responsibility now that they work or travel again; others are simply dealing with the hardship caused by the pandemic.

“I would say that 60 percent of the move requests we are getting now are people being evicted from their homes – evicted or having to take care of an older parent or move back in with a family member,” Bouchercher said.

It’s a trend that is spreading across the Bay Area. Contra Costa Animal Services says their owner drop-outs are also increasing at 23 in April, 32 in May and 40 in June.

“It’s just awful. I don’t think any of the rescues or shelters were prepared for this, ”Boucher said.

At the same time, she says that they see fewer people who want to adopt.

“We went to a couple of adoption events and everyone would love the pups, but they weren’t adopted,” she said.

Boucher says that by the time the trend reverses, she and other rescue groups will do everything possible to make room for dogs in need of new homes, even if that means keeping puppies in the lobby.

The post Animal Shelters Inundated With ‘Pandemic Pups’ as Adoptive Homeowners’ Consideration Lags – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.