Why No One Should Have to Choose Between Getting Help and Keeping Their Companion Animal

Crisis has a way of stripping life down to its most basic decisions. Where will I sleep? How will I get help? Who will care for the one being who has stayed beside me through everything?

For millions of people, that last question is about an animal they love. And far too often, getting help means facing an impossible choice: accept the treatment, shelter, hospitalization, or safety you need-or risk losing your companion animal.

I believe we can build something better.

That belief is what led me to create the National Animal Foster Network.

NAFN was born from a simple but urgent question: What happens to a beloved companion animal when the person who loves them is suddenly unable to care for them?

A hospitalization. A domestic violence crisis. Substance use treatment. Temporary homelessness. Military deployment. Incarceration. A medical emergency. Life can change in a matter of minutes, but the bond between a person and their animal does not disappear because circumstances become difficult.

Too often, our systems treat the animal as a separate problem. The person may be told to surrender them, place them in a shelter, find someone on their own, or delay getting help entirely.

That is not good enough.

The Missing Piece

Across the country, there are already foster programs, shelters, rescue organizations, veterinary professionals, social workers, advocates, volunteers, and community organzations doing extraordinary work.

What is missing is the infrastructure that connects them.

NAFN is being built as that infrastructure - a national referral network designed to connect people experiencing temporary crisis with vetted, supported, and eventually certified temporary foster resources in their communities.

We are not building another shelter. We are building the connection.

Think of it much like the Uber model: the platform does not need to own every resource in order to make the system work. It connects people to existing resources efficiently, safely, and at scale.

Our goal is exponential, not incidential. Keeping Families Together.

At the heart of this work is reunification.

Temporary crisis should not automatically become permanent separation.

When people know their animals are safe, cared for and waiting for them, they can focus on getting the help the need. And when the crisis passes, the goal is to bring that family back together. That matters for the person. It matters for the animal. And it matters for communities already struggling with overcrowded shelters, limited resources, and heartbreaking euthanasia decisions.

Building It the Right Way

NAFN will not be built quickly just for the sake of being first. It will be built correctly.

Our work is grounded in integrity, accountability, humility, respect, and humanity. We are developing this system alongside experts in animal welfare, behavior, veterinary medicine, social services, law, research, technology, safety, and lived experience.

We are willing to be bold. We are willing to be risky. But we will NEVER be reckless.

Because the people and animals who eventually rely on this system deserve more than a good idea. They deserve a system worthy of their trust.

This is just the beginning.

I have learned that some of the most important work begins with a question oth

er people have learned to accept as unanswerable.

I do not accept that someone should have to choose between getting help and keeping the animal they love. So we are buiding another choice. One foster home. One partnership. One community. One Health. One reunification at a time. And eventually, across the country.

No one should have to choose between getting the help they need and keeping their companion animal.