I'm in Maryland, so...

Our "local shelter" - Baltimore City: http://mdspca.org - Maryland SPCA (that's where Pinot came from!)
Howard County (my county):
http://www.howardcountypets.org/ non-profit rescue from kill shelters- Animal Welfare Society of Howard County
www.animal-advocates.org non-profit, promotes pet adoptions from the Howard County Shelter
http://www.lastchanceanimalrescue.org/ non-profit, rescues & cares for animals in the Baltimore/Washington area. Cats available can be seen at the local PetSmart stores-so not all pet stores are dealing with mills!!

How you find these shelters? On line, phone book, vet.

What kind of shelters exist? There are kill and no kill shelters - you have to check!

What questions should they ask at shelter? Always ask if the animal has any health issues that were treated at the shelter, what meds they're on or have been on, where the animal came from, how long they've been there, and any behavioral issues. Are there possibilities for covered insurance for any period in time (sometimes there are-we didn't know and could have benefitted)?

What fees should one expect? In this area $80-$135.

What questions should they ask a breeder? I don't have input on
How do I find a breed-specific rescue? either of these, sorry.

How do I find animals that are in foster care?
Petfinder.com specifies, my vet has postings, and the shelter has postings.

I think this would be a wonderful resource, Karen, thank you for doing it.

As far as "stories" - I think mine's been posted, but here's a short version.
Pinot was adopted from the SPCA; she seemed fine, although I was told she had been treated for a respiratory infection and was through with meds. She was 10 months old and 5 lbs. Within a week, she had been treated by the vet for severe dehydration, given antibiotics, had stopped eating and was making HORRIBLE respiratory sounds. We took her (after one week of having her) to the emergency hospital, we were told she needed a lot of things by IV immediately, they would have to keep her overnight and it would be about $800-900. We said-"go ahead"-what else can you do? Anyway, they had her for 11 hours and she turned a big corner that day. She's fine now, and the love of our lives, but, from what I understand, this is NOT uncommon for a shelter kitty. It's adopter beware!

I think that addresses everything - let me know if you have any other questions for my small corner of the world!

Maggie