[sabhow]

i looked over my handbook today and it says to place a foster child in yoour home or to adopt a child you are allowed 10 of your 40 sick days. the 40 days we get are to cover your maternity leave. I called HR and they said that since I am not delivering the child I will not have a dr note and there for cannot use sick days. I only get 10-13 vacation days. We are going to MAPP class in february so its a little early but i wanted to get my bases covered. We are going through dss and so we may get an infant...if so what am I to do? isn't there a law against that??? please answer--or email me directly

melissa

[yanknrebel]

How many employees does your company have? I am not sure of the numbers, but if there is over a certain amount of employees, then you are entitled to FMLA (family medical leave act). I worked for a large company when we had our 2 day old infant placed with us. I was allowed up to 12 weeks paid leave. I took advantage of this. Before my 12 weeks was up, I had an ectopic pregnancy and had another 6 weeks off. After 18 weeks, I called and resigned. I could not bring myself to leave this baby after being with her 24/7. If you have over 100 employees, or so, look up the FMLA laws. You may be eligible.

[BrandyHagz]

I’d research a little more before you go to your employer asking for paid FMLA…FMLA, by law is 12 weeks of UNPAID leave from your employer during any 12 month period. Your employer has to have 50 or more employees for the law to apply to him or her.

You can go to the US Department of Labors website for more information on FMLA

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

Good luck!

[Howdy]

I think it is nice that you can use 10 sick days. At my company it is only the unpaid FMLA that is available.

We need some dynamic activist people to improve the situation for everyone. And while they are at it, we all need more vacation time too. I read that the USA is second worst in the whole world for vacation days employees get. I drag myself to work sick so I can save up enough paid leave for dire necessities (such as a kid with an abcessed tooth).

[yanknrebel]

I gave incorrect info. I did get paid for my leave when I was off, but it was for the last 6 weeks, due to my ectopic and I was listed as being on short term disability. After having 18 months, all my weeks ran into each other and I was just surprised when I started getting a check.
If you can manage with out getting paid for 12 weeks and have more than 50 employees, that can be a true GODSEND to help bond with yor new baby and get on a schedule. Good luck.

[yanknrebel]

Boy, these kids have really gotten to my thought process. That last post should read 18 WEEKS not months. SOrry.

[LeslieP9]

I work for a larger company, so was able to use family and medical leave act time (not that they were happy about it), but like you, was not able to use any sick leave. If I had delivered a baby, I could have used any sick time I had saved (because pregnancy is considered a disaibility).

I took six weeks off when our foster son was placed with us. They probably would have been more accomodating at work if there had been more lead time. As it was, we got the call about him at 2:00 on a Monday afternoon, he came home with us from the hospital that night and I worked some days that week, starting my leave a week later.

Frankly, I think it sucks to not be able to use sick leave.

[sabhow]

leslie
so you took that time off to take care of the baby right? was it a foster-to-adopt program? my husband brought up a good point...what if we take all that itme off and then the mother wants the baby back after only a few weeks? just wondering what happended in your situation? -tahnks-melissa

[LeslieP9]

Yes, to care for the baby. He is a foster/adopt child. Parental rights were terminated last month. We just got notice today that he's been approved for adoption by us. Should be finalized by year end. He's 17 mos. old now and placement occurred when he was five days old.

So, soon we will no longer be foster parents

[Sleeplvr]

My caseworker suggested asking another foster parent to watch the baby until he or she is six weeks old. I just took placement of a 4 week old last week and she will be watched by another foster parent until she turns six weeks old and can go to daycare. I couldn't use any more vacation and did not want to take the 10 paid FLMA days in case something happens. I don't know her whole background story yet and a relative could step forward. We took placement in July of a toddler boy and his TPR hearing was set but his father was fighting it. I was smart not to take the time off. He will now be going to live with in father in January. You have to play the game of odds when taking the time off.

[Opting4Adopting]

For the Family & Medical Leave, you get up to 12 weeks off...paid if you have vacation to cover it (or your employee is so pro-Family that they'll pay for it) or unpaid if you have nothing to cover for it. What it was designed for was to allow people to take a leave of absence without worrying about their job being jeopardized.
when I approached our HR this time (when we were actually matched), she said that our Policy Manual was not up to current standing and so she made the decision that I would be able to use up to 10 days of my sick time as well as whatever of my vacation. It wasn't much, but it'll help! I'll have 1/2 of my 3 months paid for...
Kat

[BethanyB]

I am a teacher and in my school district, we are only allowed to use our sick days if we give birth to the baby. We are allowed to use twenty sick days. But with adoption we are only allowed to take the 12 weeks off without pay. I think it stinks but unfortunatly my district is stingy. I think it stinks because they are MY sick days to begin with. I earned them and can use them if I am sick so why not just let me use them to spend time with a new child? You would think that a school district would be more undertanding...I mean children are supposed to be our first priority.

[1of2moms]

My school district requires that if I take FMLA I use all my sick leave first. I think that is annoying because I would rather take some of it paid and some unpaid to make it last longer.
When D moved in I took 2 days of sick leave and my partner had to leave work early 2 times but school had started and so he moved in and started school. If we have a younger child placed with us, I would probably take a month (we are pre-adopt only) off before the child started at the home daycare D attends part time.

[newMafamily]

You can stretch out paid leave by saving some of the paid money to use during the unpaid period and make the money last longer-Just like for summer vacation. Not all jobs have paid leave, sick time, or extensive vacation and people forget that. Keep in mind HR Policy is primarily designed to protect and benefit the company. Having employees coming and going is not to the benefit of the company (or the kids in the school district if that is your company). Regarding parity for birth and adoption if the company has an adoption benefit should they have a corresponding birth benefit? Just a few thoughts.

Personally I would favor having all birth and adoption parents take a year off (especially if they are teachers) but if it is paid economically everyone pays and I am not sure if we can afford that as a society. I don't really know the answer but we need to think larger about these kinds of issues.

[BethanyB]

newMafamily, Yes, teachers sometimes save money during the year to use to live over the summer but a HUGE savings is needed to do this. So saving additional money to take off with a new baby would not be do-able for most teachers! And as far as benefiting the company goes...I'm a teacher who dedicates my life to helping children learn, and become responsible and caring people. Why shouldn't I get the same benefits and time home with my infant child as any parent of my student or any teacher who has a biological child. I think it's crazy when a parent gets mad about a teacher getting pregnant. It's like what? You can have kids and we can't? We are teachers for crying out loud. We love children, but we just can't get pregnant. I believe that bio parents and adoptive parents should have equal treatment, and if bio parents had to shell out as much money as adoptive parents to have their children, then I would say YES! we should have birth benefits.
(Oh and only big for profit companies usually offer this such benefits.)