FMLA and Adoption Parental Leave: A Practical Plan

You may be comfortable telling your employer that you hope to adopt a baby and still feel unsure about asking for leave. There may be no placement date yet. You might wonder how much to tell your supervisor, or whether it is too soon to ask someone to cover your work.

Then there is the question of pay. After setting aside money for adoption, you may be trying to work out whether you can also afford several weeks without your usual income.

These are things worth discussing while you have time to think through the answers. At Angel Adoption, we encourage hopeful adoptive families to learn about adoption parental leave as part of preparing for a newborn. You can find out what is available before you know when you will need it.

What Leave Can You Take When You Adopt?

When we help hopeful parents prepare for a newborn, we encourage them to find out how their employer’s leave policy applies to adoption. You may have worked somewhere for years without needing to look into this. A coworker’s experience after giving birth may be the only example you have.

If you’re looking for maternity leave for adoption, start with the benefits available specifically to adoptive parents. Some policies include paid time to be home with a newly placed child. Other benefits apply to medical recovery after childbirth. Vacation may be another option, and some state programs provide paid leave to workers who qualify.

It helps to explain that you’re preparing for newborn adoption when you speak with HR. You may need to travel, and the dates may change. Knowing how your employer handles those circumstances gives you something to plan around.

Keep a copy of the policy and any written explanation of your benefits. You may want to refer to them again once you have a placement date.

How Do FMLA and Adoption Work Together?

There can be several months between bringing your baby home and finalizing the adoption. Hopeful parents learning about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and adoption should know that qualifying placement leave can begin before finalization. You can use that time to care for your child after placement, with bonding leave ending within 12 months of placement.

FMLA provides eligible employees of covered employers with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. Your group health coverage continues on the same terms. You also generally have the right to return to your job or an equivalent position.

We encourage families to establish how much leave they have available while they’re preparing to adopt. You may already know that your workplace is covered by FMLA, but your own eligibility and any leave you’ve previously used still matter.

For most employees, qualifying requires at least 12 months with the employer and 1,250 hours worked during the preceding 12 months. You must also work at a location where your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. HR can review your employment history and remaining leave with you.

Some required absences before placement may also qualify under the rules for FMLA and adoption, including certain court appearances or counseling needed for the adoption to proceed. Those hours can count toward your available FMLA leave, so include them when working out how much time you’ll have after placement.

If your adoption home study involves appointments during working hours, find out which leave options cover those as well.

Work Out What You Can Afford

Knowing that your job is protected can answer one concern. You may still be looking at your budget and wondering how you would cover the unpaid weeks.

Ask how paid benefits and FMLA work together. They can cover the same weeks. For example, an employer’s six weeks of paid parental leave may run during a 12-week FMLA absence, leaving six weeks unpaid. Find out whether vacation can cover some of that time and how you would pay your share of health insurance premiums.

Look at those figures alongside the cost of adoption. Include money for travel if you may need to be away from home around placement.

If you are adopting with a partner, compare what each of you can take. You may want some time home together, then have one parent return to work while the other stays home longer. Married employees working for the same employer may face a combined 12-workweek FMLA limit for placement and bonding, so check before making those plans.

What If You Cannot Give a Firm Date?

Your employer may ask when you expect to leave. Tell them what you know and explain what is still uncertain.

An expected due date can help with planning, although the baby may arrive earlier or later. An expectant mother’s adoption plans can also change. If you are traveling to another state, your adoption professional and attorney can explain what needs to happen before you can bring the baby home.

For foreseeable FMLA leave, employees generally must give at least 30 days’ notice. When 30 days’ notice is not practicable, notice is required as soon as practicable. Follow your employer’s usual request procedures unless unusual circumstances prevent it.

Ask who to contact if you need to leave sooner than expected. Keep that person’s details and your leave paperwork somewhere you can reach while traveling.

For FMLA bonding leave, an employer cannot require medical certification. It may request reasonable proof of the family relationship, which a simple written statement can satisfy. Separate paid benefits may require other documents. Find out what you need before placement so you can ask the right person for it.

Deciding When to Return to Work

You may wish you could take more time than your benefits or savings allow. That is a difficult part of planning for some families, particularly after the expense of adopting.

As you learn about the newborn adoption process, bring us your questions about placement and travel. Your employer can explain your leave benefits. Having those conversations while you are waiting gives you time to work through the arrangements your family will need.