Adoption Terms and Conditions

Every successful adoption begins with clear expectations. PawPlacer's terms and conditions feature ensures adopters understand their responsibilities before completing an adoption. This guide explains how these terms work and how to customize them for your shelter.

Understanding Adoption Terms

During the adoption process, adopters must review and agree to your shelter's terms and conditions before proceeding. This legal agreement covers:

• Adopter responsibilities
• Pet care requirements
• Return policies
• Liability information
• Other shelter-specific policies

Default Terms and Conditions

PawPlacer provides comprehensive default terms in multiple languages, including:

• English
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Russian

These default terms cover essential topics such as:

• Eligibility for adoption
• The adoption process
• Pet care commitments
• Pet insurance recommendations
• Return policy
• Adoption non-transferability
• Liability waiver
• Data privacy
• Follow-up contact agreement

Customizing Your Terms

To create or modify your shelter's adoption terms:

1. Navigate to Settings > Contracts
2. Select "Adopter Contract" from the menu
3. Use the editor to modify the existing text or create new terms
4. Save your changes

The editor supports Markdown formatting, allowing you to include:

• Headers
• Lists
• Bold and italic text
• Links
• Other formatting elements

Multilingual Support

If your shelter serves a diverse community, you can provide terms in multiple languages:

1. In the contracts editor, select the language tab for the desired language
2. Enter your translated terms
3. Save each language version

PawPlacer will automatically display the terms in the user's preferred language, based on their browser settings.

Presenting Terms During Adoption

During the adoption process, the terms and conditions appear:

1. After an adopter is selected
2. In a modal dialog with the complete text
3. With a checkbox for the adopter to confirm agreement
4. With "Cancel" and "Agree and Continue" buttons

The adopter must explicitly check the agreement box before they can proceed. This creates a clear record of their consent.

Terms and Conditions Best Practices

When creating your adoption terms, consider these recommendations:

1. Be Clear and Concise: Use simple language that's easy to understand
2. Cover Key Areas: Include sections on care requirements, return policies, and health expectations
3. Consult Legal Experts: Consider having your terms reviewed by a legal professional familiar with animal welfare laws
4. Update Regularly: Review your terms periodically to ensure they reflect current laws and shelter policies
5. Highlight Important Points: Use formatting to emphasize crucial information

Terms Agreement Records

When an adopter agrees to your terms:

1. The system records their agreement with a timestamp
2. This agreement is linked to their adoption record
3. The agreement is visible on the adoption receipt
4. The information is stored for future reference if needed

This creates a clear record of the adopter's understanding and acceptance of your terms.

Technical Implementation

Behind the scenes, PawPlacer:

• Stores your custom terms in your shelter's database
• Falls back to default terms if no custom terms exist
• Automatically displays terms in the user's language when available
• Maintains a record of each agreement linked to adoption records

Next Steps

After customizing your adoption terms, they will automatically be presented to adopters during the adoption process. To see how adopters experience these terms, see the Selecting an Adopter guide.