Did you know you could get adoption assistance from your employer? Nearly half of U.S. firms now offer adoption assistance, up from only twelve percent in 1990.
You may wonder why an employer would offer to pay some of your adoption costs. Many employers say that it helps them be more competitive and they get a good return on their investment overall. Although I wonder if the more difficult economy we’ve experienced the last few months will lead firms to discontinue this benefit, I hope they will not. In any economic climate, a company is only as good as its people. Adoption benefits increase employees’ attachment to the company and also create a positive perception about the company in the minds of the consuming public.
Perhaps this makes more sense when you realize that many employers, via their health insurance plans, pay the costs associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Many health insurance plans also cover infertility treatment. I had friends who considered adoption but were deterred by the cost. They pursued medical treatments for eight years because the wife’s health insurance plan covered infertility treatment but not adoption. This is nonsensical, considering that one cycle of in vitro fertilization can cost more than any adoption and there is no guarantee of pregnancy. Meanwhile children live in orphanages all over the world—and contrary to popular belief, there are infants to adopt in the U.S. as well.
The average financial remuneration companies offered to their adopting employees is now $4, 700. This is nearly twice the average amount offered five years ago. The average adoption leave time offered is five weeks.
(In qualifying companies adopting parents should be able to use the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, just as parents of biological children can. Parents should be aware that current federal law only requires that the company to return you to a “comparable” position after the leave– not necessarily the same one. Also, employees have sometimes had to assume for these three months the full cost of their monthly insurance premiums normally paid by the company. States may have also laws about family leave which may offer more time off, or more paid time off, than is required by the federal law, which sets minimum standards. Consult your employee handbook or human-resources department for specific information.)
In some companies the employees have been able to use the adoption assistance benefit to help with the cash crunch at the time of adoption, but many companies reimburse qualified expenses after the adoption is finalized, which may be some months after the child is placed in the home. As with the adoption tax credit, many families need to take out a loan during the adoption process and then pay the loan when the reimbursement comes.
If your employer does not offer financial assistance with adoption and/or the same leave benefits as parents having a baby, the Adoptive Families Magazine website has a sample letter to employers requesting that they offer an adoption assistance benefit and/or adoption leave. It may be downloaded and customized.
The Dave Thomas Foundation maintains an “adoption-friendly workplace” section on their website. This section includes articles, benchmarks, testimony from employers on why they offer adoption assistance, and a listing of approximately 1000 companies which responded to the Foundation’s survey on adoption assistance. See if your employer offers any!
Please see this related blog:
Financial Assistance in Adoption