Rescue Is Saying I Can’t Adopt My Foster Cat That I’ve Been Caring For

Context: I found a kitten on my own through a Facebook post. She was in really rough shape and was found under a house covered in insulation. I then reached out to a few rescues to foster her & help with care because I didn’t think my solo cat would get along with a new kitten so eventually I thought she would need a home.

A person from the rescue met the next day and gave me a little bottle of amoxicillin to generally kill any bacterial stuff.

I kept her for a week after this, isolated, until I took her to my personal vet and paid for her first set of shots and flea meds myself as her condition was not getting any better with no word of when they would take her themselves. Her records are under my name. They have not provided any food etc. a week later they wanted to pick her up and take her to a vet for a “health certificate” to send her out of state.

I never signed any legal documents registering as a foster for her. They organized a transport for her and some other cats to go to an out of state location where she would be put up for adoption. A few days prior I let her know that she actually gets along with my cat great and I’d like to adopt her and would happily pay for any fees etc.

She proceeded to tell me that once a cat is accepted into transport, they are expectingthat cat and she can’t be adopted. She said she will check and let me know but it’s likely a no. Do I have any grounds here? How should I proceed? She is laying on my chest as I type this and I really want to keep her after seeing her fit into the family so well. I don’t understand the concept of not allowing her to be adopted, to be sent to a place, where she may get adopted. No one has claimed her.

EDIT: she said “Yeah I’m sorry, it’s just not something we can do. Once a cat is submitted and accepted they’re already promised to somewhere else. We’ve already had to pull so many from this transport due to health reasons I hate to take a perfectly healthy kitten away from them.”

Location: VA