Balancing Adoption and Work

You know your maternity leave rights, but what about rights for employees wanting to adopt a child?

Many high-powered career women balance adoption with a demanding job. Jennifer Lima, CareerBuilder‘s Director of Strategic Services, who adopted her now one-year-old daughter Olivia, evaluated her career options like pregnant women do.

For her, that meant changing jobs.

“I traveled more than I was home, so I took my current position which required less travel,” Lima says.

The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible adopting employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave.

Some employers offer additional benefits for adopting parents, including financial assistance and flexible leave policies.

Most adoptions take 18 to 24 months, but Lima and her husband adopted just five months after their home study. Her social worker called her at work, 15 minutes before a big meeting. “All I could do was bawl, and people were about to meet in my office,” Lima remembers.

They met the birthmother on Friday, and Olivia was born the following Tuesday.

Lima wasn’t immediately prepared for time off, but she had been upfront with her colleagues. “My leaders knew — I put it right out there,” she says.

The ongoing conversation with her employer helped the company adapt to her unexpected leave. She took four weeks off and worked at home for two weeks after that.

“We didn’t even have an empty room for a nursery,” Lima recalls. “Perfection isn’t necessary. Cover the big things — little things will work out.”

Today, 104,000 foster children are waiting to be adopted.

Considering adoption?

Lima says, “The moment I held her, she was fully mine. She had my heart. And in the process, I became complete.”

Bonus PINK Link: Looking to better balance work and family? Learn more here.

Have you adopted?

By Sarah Grace Alexander

“However motherhood comes to you, it’s a miracle.” Valerie Harper