FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Hundreds of animals enter the doors of Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control each year. Many of those animals can be put up for adoption immediately, others may need some extra attention. And that's why the foster families volunteering with Animal Care and Control are Positively Fort Wayne. "We have animals and we really love them. And I think it's great we can give other animals and other people the chance, too," said Amanda Aspy, a foster family for Animal Care and Control. In May, Amanda and her family opened their doors and started fostering for Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control. "I was just looking for places that needed fosters for kittens. And that was the first one that Google popped up. And I filled out an application and 20 minutes later it was approved. And then we picked them up a couple days later." That's the goal of Animal Care and Control, make the foster program as easy as possible. But it wasn't always like that. Building relationships one bark at a time, FWPD’s K9 Tinsley is Positively Fort Wayne "When I first started back in 2014, we had maybe a very short list of about 30 foster homes for us. We were very picky about who we sent through foster. So, I took that challenge on and I got rid of a lot of that red tape. And so, I thought you know, we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot. Let's get more people on boarded so we can save more cats, dogs, and even small animals, too," said Emilee Smith, the foster family coordinator for the past 10 years. Animal Care and Controls says it has about 250 foster homes now. Part of making the process easy is foster families don't pay for a thing. "They supply all the food, the litter, the cage they stay in. Anything we need from them, the medication, everything we need is, I don't have to pay for anything. Everything is paid for by animal control. I think people think it costs a lot of money, but it doesn't," said Amanda. Because at the end of the day, the shelter is going to do what's best for the animals. "We cannot physically house all of those animals here. So first and foremost, we don't have the space to do that. Secondly, we don't have the staff to properly care for them and socialize them. So getting them out of the building not only frees up staff time and kennel space, but it's also mentally great for the animals as well," said Smith. For Amanda, this means getting the kittens socialized with the help of her kids: Adam, Cole, Allison, Chris, and Ashley. "We like to snuggle with them. They're cute. And we like to play with them." This helps the cats when adoption time comes around. Amanda also uses it as teachable moments for her children. "We potentially saved them from being euthanized is awesome…that even the tiniest lives matter and that we can make a difference even though we can't donate a bunch of money or supplies like other people might be able to. We can actually help physically and save their lives," said Amanda. "Each and every one of them, no matter if they're fostering one litter a year or 20 litters a year for us, they're great groups of people…without our foster families, they are super vital to what we do here at Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control. Without them, we wouldn't be able to place the amount of animals that we do. Most of those animals wouldn't make it out of here, unfortunately, so our foster families, they help our shelter and community tremendously," said Smith. You can click here to learn more about the fostering program at Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control.