Our Guide to Half-Year Check-Ins and Data Collection
In an animal shelter, lots can change in six months. Between hiring and training staff, a constant flow of new rescue dogs and cats, enrichment efforts, and keeping up with basic needs, time flies and it’s hard to keep track of each animal’s progress.
That’s why half-year check-ins are such an important part of any shelter’s operations. They provide crucial opportunities to assess behavioral outcomes, to track medical needs, to provide foster and adoption support, and to engage in data collection and reporting. Let’s talk about how prioritizing half-year check-ins can revolutionize your shelter operations.
What is a Half-Year Check-In?
A half-year check-in is exactly what it sounds like: a structured evaluation carried out six months after intake or adoption. For shelter dogs and cats, half-year check-ins help staff to keep track of physical health, assess behavioral progress, and adjust operations to fit the needs of their population.
For shelter animals who have been adopted or who are being fostered, half-year check-ins give shelter staff the opportunity to assess the success of an animal’s transition, address challenges, and offer support to foster and adoptive pet parents, reducing the likelihood of returns to shelter.
Implementing Half-Year Check-In Programs
To maintain a consistent and effective half-year check-in program, regular data collection and review should be baked into your shelter’s everyday operations. Clear and consistent reporting is key to reaping the benefits of a check-in program, so a bit of work up front will pay off in the long run. Here are our top three tips for building an effective half-year check-in program:
In addition to streamlining shelter operations, half-year check-ins ensure that shelter animals are happy, healthy, and well-adjusted.
Develop Standard Operating Procedures
For your half-year check-in program to gain valuable insights, you’ll need to standardize your protocols so that all staff and volunteers understand what information you're collecting, how it should be collected, when it should be collected, and why.
Tools like the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Guidelines of Care in Animal Shelters are useful to provide a framework for what to look for in welfare assessments. Upon intake and/or adoption, schedule shelter dogs’ and cats’ half-year check-in dates, and build a system for continued half-year check-in scheduling for animals who stay in care past the 6-month mark. Additionally, consider assigning one staff member with data collection responsibilities to ensure consistency.
2. Be Intentional About Data Collection
Back in 1992, researcher and advocate Dr. Andrew Rowan called animal rescues a “statistical black hole.” Over three decades later, Dr. Rowan’s claim still rings true. Consistent data collection has yet to be fully achieved on a national level, and shelters pay the price in lack of resources, public support, and funds.
The Benefits of Data Collection in Animal Shelters
Sara Kent, CEO of Shelter Animals Count (SAC), summed it up in seven words: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Sara’s succinct explanation speaks volumes, but we’re gonna use a few more words to explore the top reasons your animal shelter should be collecting data:
Data helps track what is and isn’t working in your shelter: Shelters utilize data to assess the effectiveness of their programs and interventions, providing valuable insights to guide future programming decisions.
Data helps shape resource allocation and fundraising: Shelter management can utilize insights from data reporting to more effectively redirect resources and engage in targeted fundraising to address problems illuminated by findings.
Data encourages community support: Sharing data with your community helps to build trust, keeps the public in the know about your shelter’s needs, encourages communication between shelters, and can assist with fundraising efforts.
Data helps to inform and improve national industry solutions: Consistent data collection and reporting at a national level is a valuable tool for advocates to illustrate the need for funding, for rescues to gain insights from other shelters across the country, and for the public to understand the needs of the people and animals in the sheltering space.
Data should be regularly brought up in staff meetings and used as a resource in staff training efforts.
Data Collection Best Practices
The truth is, data standardization is a huge issue in the animal welfare field; research by Tufts University illustrates that animal welfare lacks standardization on a national scale, which makes national-level advocacy challenging.
The same can be true at the local level. Without taking the time to put standards and procedures in place, the data you gather will be disorganized and, ultimately, useless. Shelter Animals Count is a great resource for data standardization efforts. They’ve created an Animal Welfare Glossary in an effort to standardize definitions, terms, and calculations, and their National Database is a helpful tool for local, regional, and national data collection.
3. Regularly Review, Share, and Adjust
Too often, shelters put tons of resources into data collection and forget to go that extra step of actually using the information they’ve gathered. Here are a few ways to be intentional about sharing and using the data you’ve collected:
Share monthly stats with staff and volunteers: Find a visible place to post monthly statistics where staff can view them, and go over your data regularly in scheduled staff meetings. This will give staff opportunities to contribute to ongoing programming discussions.
Share your data with the public: Being transparent with your data can help you to build trust in your local community. Be sure to be honest, accurate, and descriptive when sharing your data with the public, discussing the “why” behind the figures you’ve gathered and how you plan to make improvements.
Foster open communication with other animal welfare organizations: There’s power in community, and data is a powerful tool to build relationships with other shelters and advocacy organizations. Share your insights with those in your community to build a mutually beneficial relationship.
Laurie Lawless, founder of Shelter Behavior Innovations, takes a hands-on approach to support shelter staff and leadership toward more animal-centered operations.
Streamline Shelter Operations With Shelter Behavior Innovations
Animal welfare is an industry with an overwhelming amount of need. Sometimes, we get so bogged down in meeting needs that the small stuff falls to the wayside. Eventually, that small stuff snowballs, and suddenly you’re drowning in disorganization and chaos.
Laurie Lawless, founder of Shelter Behavior Innovations (SBI), knows this all too well, and it’s her mission to step in before you’re drowning. Laurie’s remote services target shelter operations, offering support for overwhelming shelter projects or admin lapses. If you need more hands-on support, Laurie’s in-person services offer targeted support to revolutionize your shelter. Visit the SBI website to learn more about Laurie, access educational resources, and read more posts on our blog!
