Our Adoption Process
West Michigan Critter Haven is a volunteer-driven, nonprofit small animal rescue made up of foster homes throughout Grand Rapids and surrounding cities. Appointments to visit adoptable animals in their foster homes are only made after a completed adoption application is received, reviewed by a director, and a phone interview is conducted by an adoption counselor.
WMCH has an adoption process that is followed for all standard adoptions. To complete the process you will take the following steps:
Complete the online adoption application. Upon completion of the questionnaire, you will receive an email with some information and the next steps.
Review the email and the material provided, then reply to the adoption counselor as instructed in the email.
Once you have reviewed the information and replied to the email per the instructions, an adoption counselor will contact you to set up a phone interview.
Complete a phone interview conducted by an adoption counselor. This takes about an hour. We use this interview for you to get to know us better, and for us to get to know you better, including your previous experience, knowledge of living with and caring for an animal you're interested in, and preferences to help us help you find the right match for your family. We want to make the adoption successful for you and your family so that we know we have found a forever home for our animal.
Once approved as an adopter after the phone interview, we will check your references and then arrange a time to do a "meet and greet" in the animal's foster home. The majority of our foster homes are located in and around Grand Rapids.
At the meet and greet, you will meet the animal or animals you are interested in. Here, if you meet your companion or companions, you'll complete an adoption contract, pay the adoption fee according to your adoption arrangements, and take your new companion home to become a member of your family.
We reserve the right to terminate the adoption process or refuse adoption at any time. We reserve the right to remove a pet from an undesirable situation post-adoption throughout the animal's life.