Shelter discriminating against young couple

Looking for any sort of help or advice.

My partner (28F) and I (29m) fostered a sick cat from a pet shelter 5 months ago and have helped care for him since then. We decided to foster because I did not have previous experience owning a pet and wanted to gain experience and to see if it was actually for me/us. Over this time we have grown to love the cat and have had intentions to send in our application to adopt the cat next week!

However, a couple of days ago we received a message that another family has shown interest and has been approved to adopt the cat. The family, of course, wanted to meet the cat before making any sort of decision. So they called me and since we understood that they had thrown their hat in before we did, we agreed to arrange a time for them to meet the cat. In the same conversation, we got to talking and I mentioned my interest in putting in an adoption application next week. I explained how we grew to love the cat. The potential adopter still wanted to meet the cat and I agreed as it is their right. About an hour later the potential adopter calls back and explains that she feels that we have a bond with the cat and wouldn't want to separate us. It was a kind and thoughtful gesture, right? This means we can adopt the cat now, right?

Nope! This is where it gets crazy....

I informed Jill, the manager of the adoption agency who oversees all adoptions, about this situation. She immediately goes absolutely crazy on me and accuses me of derailing the adoption!!! She goes on to say that I've been trying to use her through fostering (as they pay for food and vet bills when fostering) and was taking advantage of her from the start! Amongst other insensitive things she had said to me she decides she won't let us adopt and wants the cat back.

I submitted an application that night to adopt the cat and she receives it and reviews it. She then calls me in the morning and does an interview. She proceeds to inform us that we have been denied adoption for a few reasons:

1. we've only been dating for 6 months
2. we've only been living in our apartment for 6 months
3. I've never owned a pet before

Some key points:

1. I am a health care worker and have been working in this city for the past 4 years with I would say enough of a salary to properly care for a cat
2. I moved to a new apartment so that I can live independently. I felt it was time at 29 years old. I still live in the same neighbourhood
3. My partner and I plan to be in a long term relationship

At this point, it does not seem like Jill is changing her mind and has threatened to take legal action against us. I feel like we are being discriminated against for unfair arbitrary reasons when we would otherwise provide this cat with a loving and caring home.

I have a few other friends who have adopted from this agency when they have just moved into a new home and have not had any previous cat experience and so their application was essentially the same as ours. However, they were approved!

Knowing that, I now feel as if Jill has a personal issue with me and is denying our adoption out of spite. I do not want to return the cat to the shelter as I feel like that's worse for the cat than otherwise to stay with us. I am hoping we have a case that shows we have been mistreated and would be appropriate owners for the cat.

I guess I'm here to see if anyone has any advice to help us out as we proceed through the legal process. We are from Ontario Canada.

Thank you thank you thank you so much in advance!!

submitted by /u/StarbuckTrueNorth
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/hy0iwr/shelter_discriminating_against_young_couple/