Parental Leave: What you Need to Know Before You Adopt or Foster

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

Are adoptive parents eligible for parental leave? What about foster parents or kinship parents? We talk with Dr. Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell, with the Center for Parental Leave Leadership and co-authors of The Parental Leave Playbook.
In this episode, we cover:

• What are the laws and rules surrounding parental leave in the US?
• Who is eligible for parental leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
• Parental leave on the company level.
• How does parental leave differ from maternity leave or paternity leave?
• Policies that require employees to pay back their parental leave if they do not stay employed with the company/organization for a certain period of time.
• How does this differ from other countries?
• Are the laws/rules different for mothers and fathers? Are they gender neutral?
• Do you receive your salary when you are on parental leave?
• Does parental leave differ for someone adopting a child?
• Are adoptive families protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
• Are birth mothers eligible for parental leave?
• Does there have to be a legal relationship between the parent and the child? Does parental leave differ for someone fostering a child? Are you eligible for parental leave with every new foster placement?
• Can kinship caregivers receive parental leave?
• The Parental Leave Playbook lays out a process for approaching parental leave in three phases: preparing for your leave, during leave, and returning from leave.
• What steps should you take to be successful in each phase?

To support the Paid Leave for All Act
This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
• Resource pages on all aspects of family building

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