What is your adoption process?

NEAR follows a strict adoption protocol. Our one over-riding goal as a shelter is to ensure the birds in our care get the very best treatment possible -- especially when it comes to the care they receive once they leave us. While we reserve the right to deviate from our adoption process at any time, at our sole discretion, all potential adopters will be expected to follow this process.

1. Application -- The first and most important step. Our adoption application can be found here: Adoption Application
2. Virtual Interview -- After reviewing your application, we will set up a mutually convenient time for an online interview with our adoption panel. This interview will be conducted via Zoom or Google Meet. Other options for the virtual meeting can be considered on a case-by-case basis. We will take this time to get to know you a little bit and answer any questions that may have come up while reviewing your application. This interview will often be used as a means of determining the experience level of the adopter and whether we have birds available that meet this level of experience. You can expect the virtual interview to last 30 to 60 minutes. The adoption panel will determine how to proceed.
3. Shelter Visit -- After the virtual interview, successful adoption candidates will be invited to visit the shelter and meet individual birds. We are exercising steps to avoid the spread of COVID-19, so we ask adopters to limit the size of their party, bring and wear masks and exercise social distancing wherever possible while at the shelter.
4. Home Visit -- Assuming everything goes well at the shelter visit and a decision is made to adopt, a home visit will be carried out. Typically we do the home visit at the time we bring the bird(s) to your home. During the home visit, the adopting family will be expected to read and sign an adoption contract which, among other things, will require the adopting family to agree that if, for any reason, they cannot keep the bird(s) they adopt from NEAR, the bird(s) must be returned to the shelter.