Affording Adoption
Talking to Your Employer about Adoption Benefits
When Karla brought her nine month old daughter, Kristina, home from Russia in early 2004, she was overjoyed to be a first-time parent. She decided to take several weeks away from her position as executive vice president of her company to bond with her daughter.
While Karla’s employer offered $5,000 as reimbursement for adoption expenses, which Karla says is similar to the reimbursement amounts offered by many companies, they provided no paid parental leave time for adoptive parents. The time that Karla was able to spend with her daughter was through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and was therefore unpaid. Because Karla is a single parent, every precious week that she spent with her new daughter meant more time without any income.
The Perfect Timing
Given her executive role within the company, when Karla decided to adopt, she wasn’t in a position to campaign for paid parental leave time for herself. But once Kristina’s adoption was complete, Karla believed she could move forward and bring adoption benefit change recommendations to her employer without the perception of a conflict of interest. Waiting, in the end, was in her favor.
After Kristina’s adoption, “The corporation was in the process of ‘harmonizing’ benefits across a number of their businesses to achieve greater consistency,” says Karla. “It was perfect timing to weigh in on the adoption benefit topic.”
A Proposal
In a proposal to her company, Karla shared her personal adoption experience and included adoption statistics about the number of parents adopting within the company and nationally. She also emphasized the importance of “adoption-friendly” benefits, such as a paid parental leave of absence, for adoptive parents. Before she brought this topic to her company’s attention, they had only provided paid leave for the birth of a child. Karla says, “It proved important to stress that while the situations differ in the birth and adoption of a child, the need for a child to be with one or both parents upon joining the family is critical in both circumstances.”
Success at Last
Karla’s presentation was effective. “The parental leave policy was changed to provide eight weeks paid time off for birth and adoptions,” says Karla. This is significant, especially because Karla says that the average paid time off for adoptive parents in companies nationwide is around five weeks. Today, her employer continues to offer adoptive parents a financial reimbursement of $5,000 in addition to the paid leave.
Advocating for Benefits
While Karla wasn’t able to benefit herself from the change in benefits, she says that the paid parental leave is “a positive employment factor for others in the process of adoption.” She highly encourages others whose lives have been touched by adoption to also advocate for adoption benefits.
“If an employer genuinely values its employees, understands that personal and family time can impact the workplace, and knows how employee contributions translate to business results, there should be no hesitation for employers to provide adoption benefits,” says Karla.
Some Suggestions
Karla has many suggestions for families when approaching their employers about offering adoption benefits. She says, “Approach your employer as you would on any business issue—do your research and submit an objective and concise proposal.” Karla suggests looking to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s web site, www.davethomasfoundationforadoption.org, for effective resources. This site contains statistics on the best adoption-friendly workplaces, a free adoption-friendly workplace toolkit, a free “Convincing Your Employer” brochure, and other adoption links. When writing your proposal, Karla suggests that you:
Emphasize why your employer should offer (or increase) adoption benefits. You may want to include that adoption benefits increase employee retention, facilitate a sense of engagement and loyalty to the company, and allow the company to remain competitive in recruiting new staff.
Think about the current “burning issues” that your employer is considering and then see if your proposal relates to any of these important business topics. “If there is a link,” says Karla, “be sure to emphasize it.”
Let your employer know how important paid leave time is in order to facilitate attachment and bonding with your child.
Share information on adoption costs.
Show your employer that adoption benefits are a much smaller financial investment than the costs incurred through infertility treatment and the birth of a child.
Emphasize that by providing adoption benefits, the employer is valuing adoption as a way to build a family and saying that adopted children are just as important as children who are born into a family.
Provide a summary of as many statistics as possible to build your business case. Include the low cost of adoption benefits and the fact that adoption benefits are used by approximately one percent or less of eligible employees. Yet, for those who do take advantage of the adoption benefits, they are of high value.
Share your own story (if you are comfortable doing so), and how the adoption benefits would have or could make a difference for you and others. Be sure to ask others for permission before sharing any of their personal adoption stories to protect their privacy.
Look for a sponsor for your proposal. Executives whose lives may have been touched by adoption can be helpful, and human resources’ support of your proposal can also be valuable. Know your key stakeholders and their views on family and adoption.
Find out the timing of when your company reviews benefits to make any changes. Be sure to submit your proposal in time for consideration on the benefit agenda and to all those involved in such decision-making. Talking personally with each decision-maker prior to submitting the proposal can be helpful in preparing the details for their consideration and buy-in.
Indicate your gratitude for your current benefits and for your company’s willingness to consider your proposal. (Too often we forget to simply say “thank you!”)
Not Sure Where to Begin?
The best place to begin may very well be to simply find out what your employer offers for adoption benefits. You can do this by checking with your employer’s human resource benefits department in person or online. “If adoption benefits are provided, they should be able to provide you relevant information in writing or electronically,” says Karla. “You may want to state that you want for them to keep your inquiry confidential at this time to ensure that your personal plans are not shared or considered unintentionally in any employment-related decisions.”
According to Karla, “Legally, the only adoption benefit that most employers are required to provide is through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows for twelve weeks of unpaid parental leave for eligible employees.” Even adoption-friendly workplaces often have eligibility requirements for employees wishing to take paid time off of work to spend with a newly adopted child. Therefore, you’ll want to be sure that you’ve gathered information about eligibility requirements from your employer before you adopt.
Other Benefits
Karla says, “In addition to the two typical adoption benefits [financial assistance and parental leave], don’t forget about other benefits that support this type of change in family status.” These benefits include flexible spending and reimbursement accounts for dependent care and medical costs, as well as flextime, medical and dental insurance for new dependents, and life insurance beneficiary updates. “Give thought to all of the possible life provisions that may be affected through adoption so that you can be as prepared as possible,” says Karla.
For More Information
For more information on adoption funding, please visit our adoption funding page.
