Last week, Lifetime Adoption introduced our newest blog series “Before You Adopt,” and gave info about babyproofing your home. This series will highlight fruitful activities that you can do during your adoption wait.
Today, we’re sharing tips with you about a parent’s adoption leave from their employer. Taking a leave from work is important: it allows you to bond with your newly adopted baby.
Make an appointment with your HR department, and ask them what your employer’s policy is on adoption leave. If paid time off isn’t permitted for adoption, you can present a proposal to change the policy. Educate yourself on the Family and Medical Leave Act, (FMLA) and the requirements it specifies for employers.
You might mention to your employer that since leave is afforded to employees who become parents by birth, it’s only fair that leave is offered as well for employees who become parents through adoption. Place emphasis on the long-term benefits to establishing attachment early on in a child’s life.
A wonderful resource about adoption leave is offered by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. It’s a free kit called “Adoption Benefits for the Workplace.” Find out more and request a kit at DaveThomasFoundation.org. Once you receive the kit in the mail, pass along to your HR department.
Founder of Lifetime Adoption, adoptive mom, adoption expert, and Certified Open Adoption Practitioner (C.O.A.P).
Since 1986, adoption expert Mardie Caldwell has been dedicated to bringing couples and birth parents together in order to fulfill their dreams.
“Many years ago, I was also searching for a child to adopt. We didn’t know where or how to get started. Through research, determination, and a prayer, our dream of a family became reality. I started with a plan, a notebook, assistance from a caring adoption consultant and a lot of hard work; this was my family I was building. We had a few heartaches along the way, but the pain of not having children was worse!
Within weeks we had three different birth mothers choose us. We were overwhelmed and delighted. Many unsettling events would take place before our adoption would be finalized, many months later. Little did I know that God was training and aligning me for the adoption work I now do today. It is my goal to share with our families the methods and plans which succeed and do not succeed. I believe adoption should be affordable and can be a wonderful “pregnancy” for the adoptive couple.
I have also been on both sides of infertility with the loss of seven pregnancies and then conceiving by new technology, giving birth to a healthy daughter. I have experienced first-hand the emotional pain of infertility and believe my experience allows me to serve your needs better.
It is my hope that for you, the prospective parents, your desire for a child will be fulfilled soon.”
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