> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Adoptions
> The adoptions list, an adoption's ledger, taking the fee online or another way, the contract, finalizing, the receipt, and reversing an adoption.
**Adoptions** lists every animal that has gone home and what is still owed. Each adoption is one animal going home with one adopter, and keeps its own fee, payments, contract and receipt.
It is not in the sidebar: open the search palette (the **Search** box at the top of the page, or **Ctrl K**, **⌘ K** on a Mac) and type "Adoptions".
Anyone whose role can **See** Animals can open an adoption. Recording payments, signing, finalizing and reversing need **Change** on Animals.
## Starting an adoption
An adoption is recorded from an approved application, by signing an adoption contract on it. Choosing the animals, the fee for each, and the contract all happen there. See [Recording the adoption](/animals/applications#recording-the-adoption).
When the contract is signed, one adoption is recorded for each animal it names, and each animal:
* is marked adopted, with the adopter and the adoption day as its outcome;
* gets an adopter placement with the adopter, starting that day.
The adopter is marked as an adopter on their person record, and the adoption's contract is noted as signed.
## The fee
The fee is fixed when the adoption is recorded, and every figure on the adoption is worked out from it. What it starts from is the animal's own **Adoption fee**, on its record. At intake, the fee box shows what your fee schedule suggests for the animal, with a **Use it** button; nothing is filled in until you press it.
On the contract, each animal's fee is one of:
* the animal's adoption fee less any discounts that apply, with each discount and the reason;
* the list fee, with no discount;
* another amount you type, such as a waived fee of 0.
The **Fee** shown with the contract preview is the amount that will be recorded. Check it before signing.
When discounts are taken, the adoption keeps the list fee and each discount, so the receipt can explain the number later. Fee schedules and discounts are set under **Settings → Finance & adoption → Adoption fees**; see [Finance settings](/settings/finance).
## The adoptions list
Across the top:
| Figure | What it means |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Adoptions** | How many adoptions match the filters. |
| **Active** | How many are still in progress. |
| **Finalized** | How many have been finalized. |
| **Still owed** | The money still owed, across how many adoptions. Reversed adoptions are not counted. |
The columns:
| Column | What it means |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Animal** | Always shown. |
| **Adopter** | Who adopted. |
| **Adopted** | The adoption day. |
| **Fee** | The fee the adoption was recorded at. |
| **Paid** | Verified payments less verified refunds. Money recorded but not yet verified shows under it as **pending**. |
| **Balance** | What is still owed. **overpaid** when more was paid than the fee. |
| **Status** | **In progress**, **Finalized** or **Reversed**, and the receipt number once there is one. |
Reversed adoptions are listed last; otherwise the newest adoption comes first. Use **Columns** to choose the columns you see.
### Filters
* **Status**: In progress, Finalized, Reversed.
* **Balance**: **Owes money**, the adoptions with a balance still to pay. With this filter on, the count says how many are on the current page.
Under **Views**, **+ Save current view** keeps a filter to come back to.
## The adoption record
The top of the record shows the animal, the status, and "Adopted" with the day and the adopter. **Print** prints the page you are on.
| Tab | What it is for |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Ledger** | The fee, every payment and refund, and the ways to take payment. |
| **Contract** | The signed contract, and a record of a paper one. |
| **Receipt** | The receipt, once the adoption is finalized. |
Beside the tabs:
* **Adoption**: the animal and the adopter, each linking to their record, and **View the application**.
* **Add a donation**, or **Donation** once one is added. See [A donation on top](#a-donation-on-top).
* **Animal returned?**, while the adoption is in progress. See [Reversing an adoption](#reversing-an-adoption).
## The ledger
The **Ledger** tab starts with the money:
| Figure | What it means |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Fee** | What the adoption costs. |
| **Paid** | Verified payments, less verified refunds. |
| **Pending** | Recorded but not verified. Shown, **Not counted**. |
| **Balance** | Fee less Paid. **Settled** at zero. Reads **Overpaid**, **Refund owed**, when more was paid than the fee. |
| **Donation** | A gift on top of the fee, when there is one. Never part of the balance. |
Recorded is not received. A payment counts toward the balance only once somebody verifies it: confirms the money actually arrived. A check handed over, or a promise to pay, stays **Recorded** until then.
### Payments
Every payment and refund, newest first, with its amount (a refund with a minus), method, reference, the day received, and its state:
| State | What it means |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Recorded** | Entered, not yet confirmed. Not counted. |
| **Verified** | Confirmed as arrived. Counted. |
| **Voided** | Cancelled, with the reason shown. Not counted. |
* **Verify** marks a recorded payment as arrived, by you, now.
* **Void** asks **Why is this being voided?** and then **Void payment**. The payment stays on the ledger, struck through with its reason, and stops counting. A void cannot be undone.
Nothing on the ledger is ever deleted.
### Record a payment
For money taken in person, by check, by bank transfer, or through any processor.
| Field | What it means |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Amount** | Required, more than zero. |
| **Method** | Cash, Check, Card, Bank transfer, Online, Other. |
| **Reference** | A check number, the last four digits, a receipt id. |
| **Received on** | The day the money came in. Today to begin with. |
| **Processor** | If it came through Stripe, Square, Zeffy, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App or another processor. **None** otherwise. |
| **Processor's id** | Asked once you choose a processor: the processor's own id for the charge or payment. This is what [reconciliation](/animals/reconciliation) matches on. |
Choose **Payment** or **Refund**. A refund is recorded as a refund, never as a negative payment.
Tick **I have confirmed this money arrived** only when it has. Leave it unticked for a check or a promise to pay: it will show as recorded, not paid, until someone verifies it.
Press **Record payment** (or **Record refund**).
The form is there while the adoption is in progress. Once it is finalized or reversed, no new payments or refunds can be recorded, though a payment already on the ledger can still be verified or voided.
## Taking payment online
**Pay online** sends the adopter a link to pay the balance by card. It needs your organization to have connected Stripe under **Settings → Finance & adoption → Payments**; see [Finance settings](/settings/finance).
Press **Make a payment link**. The link appears once, for the balance owed at that moment: "send it however you talk to them". **Copy** puts it on your clipboard. RescueConsole does not send it for you.
When the adopter pays, the payment appears on the ledger straight away: method Online, processor Stripe, with Stripe's id, and **Verified**, because Stripe has confirmed the money. A gift they add is recorded as a donation in Fundraising.
Every link made for the adoption is listed with what became of it:
| Says | What it means |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Not paid yet** | Sent, not used. |
| **Paid** | Paid, and on the ledger. |
| **Expired** | Can no longer be used. The reason is shown. |
| **Paid on Stripe, not recorded** | The adopter paid, but the adoption had changed and the payment could not go on the ledger. The money is in your Stripe account. Look at the reason and record what needs recording. |
A link is refused before any money is taken if, by the time the adopter goes to pay, the adoption has been reversed, the fee has already been paid, or the balance has dropped below the link's amount. Make a new link if the balance changed. While a link is still unpaid, the button reads **Make a new link**.
### What the adopter sees
The link opens a page on your public site headed **Adoption fee for** the animal's name, greeting the adopter by first name when it has one. It says how much is due to your organization, then:
* **Add a gift on top? Optional.**: **No thanks**, which is chosen to begin with, your donation amounts (see [Finance settings](/settings/finance)), or **Or another amount**.
* A box to add about 3% to cover card processing, if your settings give the payer that choice, or a line saying it is added, if your settings add it.
* A line for any other fee your payment settings pass on to the payer.
* A **Pay** button with the amount. "You will finish on Stripe's secure page. We never see your card."
After paying they land on a **Thank you** page: their adoption fee has been received, with their gift if they gave one. "Stripe will email you a receipt." A button takes them back to your site.
A link that cannot be used says so instead: **Already paid**, **This link can no longer be used** with the reason, or **This link has expired** with "Ask the rescue for a fresh link." If your organization is not taking payments online, the page says **Not taking payments online yet** and asks them to pay you directly.
## Pay another way
For an adopter paying with an app they already have. **Pay another way** shows a code to scan for each payment app your organization set up under **Settings → Finance & adoption → Payments** (Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle), with the balance already in it, and the handle under it. Zelle has no code: it lives inside banking apps, so the card shows the address to send to. Any other way you set up has no code either; read the details out, or show the screen.
These payments go straight to your own account, so RescueConsole is never told when one is paid. When the money lands, record it on the ledger the way you would record cash.
With no payment apps set up, the card says where to add them.
## A donation on top
**Add a donation** records a gift the adopter gives on top of the fee. Type the amount and press **Add donation**. It is recorded as a donation in Fundraising, separate from the fee and never part of the balance, and the adopter is marked as a donor. One donation can be added per adoption; after that the card shows it.
## The contract
The **Contract** tab has two cards.
### Contract
The contract signed electronically. A contract signed on the approved application shows here, on every adoption it named. Each signature shows the contract's name and version, the day, and who signed.
* **View the signed text** shows the exact text that was signed. Editing the template later never changes it.
* **Void** asks **Why is this being voided?**, then **Void signature**. The signature stays on the record, marked voided, and is never deleted.
**Sign** (or **Sign another**) signs a contract here, on this one adoption:
1. Choose **Which agreement?**. The contracts offered for this adoption come first, under **Offered for this record**; the rest are under **Other agreements**. Choosing one says why it is offered, or what it is for.
2. Press **Show the contract** to see it exactly as it will be signed.
3. If the contract names the media release and the application did not answer it, choose **Media release**: **Agreed: photos and stories may be shared** or **Declined**.
4. The adopter types their name in **Type your full name to sign** and ticks **I have read the agreement above and consent to signing it electronically.**
5. Press **Sign**. A permanent copy of the exact text is kept.
A contract that still has unfilled placeholders cannot be signed until its template is fixed. See [Contract templates](/settings/contract-templates).
### Signed on paper
For a contract signed off-system: **Signed on**, **Signed by** and **Version**. Press **Save**. This records that a contract was signed, by whom and which version; it does not hold the document. Signing electronically fills these in too.
Finalizing counts a contract as on file when **Signed on** is filled in. Voiding a signature does not clear it: clear it yourself if the adoption no longer has a signed contract.
## Finalizing
Finalizing closes the adoption and issues its receipt. While an adoption is in progress, the top of the record shows a checklist:
* **Outstanding balance of** the amount still owed, or
* **No signed contract on file**, or
* **Ready to finalize: balance settled and contract on file.**
Press **Finalize adoption**. The card says what finalizing does. If something on the checklist is not done, tick each one you are overriding on purpose: **Finalize anyway with** the amount **still outstanding**, and **Finalize anyway without a signed contract on file**. Press **Finalize and issue receipt**.
Finalizing:
* issues the next receipt number (R-00001, R-00002 and so on, in order, for your organization);
* closes the adoption: no new payments or refunds can be recorded, and the **Signed on paper** details can no longer be changed;
* creates the follow-up tasks your organization has set up, on the animal's record, dated from the adoption day, and says how many;
* starts any workflow set to start when the adopter's adoption is finalized. See [Workflows](/settings/workflows).
Finalizing cannot be undone, and a receipt number is never issued twice. A finalized adoption cannot be reversed in the app.
## The receipt
Once the adoption is finalized, the **Receipt** tab shows the receipt number and the day, the **Animal**, **Pet ID**, **Adopter** and **Adopted on**, and the money: the **List fee** and each discount with its reason (when discounts were taken), the **Adoption fee**, any **Donation**, what was **Paid**, and any **Balance due** or **Overpaid**.
Use **Print** to print it, or save it as a PDF from your browser's print window. The receipt is not emailed to the adopter.
Before finalizing, the tab says "A receipt number is issued when the adoption is finalized."
## Reversing an adoption
When an animal comes back, reverse its adoption. **Animal returned?** is shown while the adoption is in progress. Press **Reverse this adoption**, give **Returned on** (today to begin with) and a **Reason**, which is required, and press **Reverse**.
Reversing:
* marks the adoption **Reversed**, with the day and reason at the top of the record;
* ends the adopter placement on the day returned;
* puts the animal back into care, on the first in-care status in your animal statuses (see [Animal management](/settings/pet-configuration)), and clears its outcome;
* leaves the animal unhoused if the unit it was in has since been retired or taken out of service;
* records the return as an [intake](/animals/intakes), dated the day returned, with the reason.
It leaves every payment as it was.
If money is going back to the adopter, record the refund on the ledger **before** you reverse. A reversed adoption's ledger takes no new payments or refunds.
A reversal cannot be undone. A payment link made for the adoption can no longer be paid.