QPS RE-HOME AND PLACEMENT PROGRAM
Founded in 1999 by QPS, QPSRAPP is dedicated to the re-home and placement of Quaker Parakeets upon the request of people who can no longer keep them for a variety of reasons. As part of QPS, RAPP is a 501(c), non-profit program, overseen by a small committee and consisting of over 200 volunteers from across the US and Canada. Volunteers can be called upon to transport, foster or adopt. Volunteers are encouraged to assist the committee in decision making, fundraising and educational aspects of RAPP. QPSRAPP birds are placed with RAPP volunteers at the request of their relinquishing owners only. RAPP does not purchase birds from pet stores, breeders, or from private individuals. No fee is charged to place or adopt a RAPP bird. A RAPP bird will not be placed in a breeding situation unless the relinquishing owner specifically expresses that request. RAPP understands how difficult and emotional a decision it is to give up a Quaker. Relinquishing owners who ask RAPP to assist in finding their Quaker a new home are put directly in contact with adopting volunteers so that the relinquishing owner ultimately decides the volunteer best to adopt their bird. QPSRAPP is dedicated to educating its volunteers and the public about Quaker Parakeets. Adoption tips, a complete state by state veterinary listing, articles on plucking, and much more information, compiled by volunteers, is available to all who visit through the RAPP Support Program.
Before volunteering, please read BEFORE YOU VOLUNTEER.
Also note that all applicants are required to complete the RAPP Support Volunteer Training Course before volunteer Status is rewarded.
APPLICANTS TAKING VOLUNTEER TRAINING COURSE- click on the training logo
Not everyone can donate time to QPSRAPP by volunteering to adopt, transport, or foster. QPSRAPP understands this. Monetary donations, no matter how small, can make all the difference to Quakers who need placement in new homes. Please visit PENNIES FOR PLACEMENT to lean how you can help.
RAPP Support serves as a before and after support and educational system for the Quaker Parakeet Society Re-Home and Placement Program (QPSRAPP).
As a RAPP bird is placed, the adopting volunteer will be asked if they would like to be assigned a RAPP Support mentor. The mentor will help, via email, with any problems that may arise with their newly adopted Quaker.
At times, people who contact RAPP are not sure that they truly want to give up their Quaker. Sometimes they are simply having a difficult time adjusting to the ways and needs of their Quaker. After years of being a "perfect" bird, some Quakers can develop habits which can be confusing to the owner, such as cage territorialism and hormonal swings. A RAPP Support mentor can be helpful and supportive at this time. Although our job as RAPP volunteers is to place a bird who cannot stay in its present home for whatever reason, our most important job is to do what is best for the bird referred to RAPP. Often times, it is to help keep that bird healthy and happy with the people that he or she loves and is familiar with.
PLEASE READ BEFORE VOLUNTEERING
QPSRAPP is grateful to those who offer their time and hearts to volunteer, but ask all those who are thinking of volunteering to carefully and honestly consider the following before you fill out and submit the RAPP Volunteer Application:
NO BIRD IS FREE! RAPP charges NO fees to adopting volunteer or relinquishing owner. But, even if a bird is adopted with no fees, bird ownership is costly and those costs will be both obvious and hidden.
A good, formulated diet for a Quaker, a safe and roomy cage, and safe toys are obvious, continual, and expensive costs.
Veterinary bills for well bird checks and emergencies are hidden costs that are expensive because avian medicine is so specialized. Travel cages and gas for transportation are expensive as well and need to be taken seriously. There are fewer avian veterinarians than non avian veterinarians. One may not be located conveniently near you. Many non avian vets and clinics are not equipped to care for birds and may refuse to accommodate the bird owner.
If you already have one or more birds in your home, you can assume that your bird ownership costs will rise with the addition of another bird. An adopting volunteer cannot assume that cages, toys, etc. will be supplied with the newly adopted Quaker. Adopting volunteers with a multiple bird household must be able to quarantine. The health and well being of the birds already in residence should not be compromised.
BEHAVIOR- Some adopted Quakers may come to the adopting volunteer with behavioral problems that will need addressing and modification. The adjustment to a new home and to new caregivers may be stressful for some birds, even if they do not exhibit behavioral problems. Adopting volunteers must be patient, understanding, yet confident and willing to help modify or correct problem behavior. RAPP Support offers all adopting volunteers one on one mentoring to help correct and/or modify behavior problems and to make the transition in the new home less stressful and more rewarding.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO VOLUNTEER-
Not everyone who volunteers with QPSRAPP is able to adopt, but transport and temporary fostering volunteers are always needed and their efforts are appreciated. Unfortunately, there will always be more Quakers to adopt than volunteers to adopt them. This holds particularly true of areas in the United States where RAPP lacks adopting volunteers, but where there are Quakers who need placement in new homes. Volunteering to transport or foster shows true concern for the Quaker in need, and compassion for relinquishing owner and adopting volunteer, who can offer a Quaker a home, but cannot transport the Quaker themselves.
Should you have questions or concerns about volunteering with QPSRAPP, please take he time to write to QPSRAPP.