Supporting employees with adoption benefits

What are common paths to adoption?

There are several different routes to adoption, each with associated costs, benefits, and stringent processes. Understanding them can help you provide better adoption support for your employees.

• Domestic adoption: The placement of U.S.-born infants for adoption by their legally-consenting birth parents with an adoptive family of their choosing.
• International adoption: “Intercountry adoption” is when families adopt a child from another country through permanent legal means to live in the adoptive family's country of residence.
• Familial adoption: When a child is placed with extended family members for a long period of time until that family member can adopt them. 
• Foster-to-adopt: Adopting a child placed with the adoptive family as a foster is usually facilitated by a state or city social services agency.
• Adoption directly from foster care: Adopting a child in foster care whose biological parents' rights have been terminated by a court.

Roadblocks employees may experience on the path to becoming adoptive parents

Adoption is a costly, time-consuming process. Throughout that journey, there may be several obstacles your employees may encounter:

• Cost. The average cost to adopt a child through a domestic agency is $20,000 to $50,000. Throughout the process, adoptive parents will also have many appointments: home inspections, visits with prospective birth parents, meetings with attorneys, court dates, and travel. Your employees going through the process of adoption may need additional time off and support from your company. 
• Timing. Timing is another factor that can prohibit people from adoption. The process for a domestic adoption can take anywhere from six to 18 months, from application to the finalization of the adoption by the courts. International adoptions have a much wider variance: per the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, finalizing an intercountry adoption can take one to five years. 
• Anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination. LGBTQIA+ families are much more likely to experience discrimination in their quest to adopt than heterosexual, cisgender couples, although they are four times more likely to raise adopted children. According to the American Bar Association, ten U.S. states allow state-licensed welfare agencies to refuse to place adopted children with LGBTQ+ or same-sex couples. Discrimination often makes it more costly and difficult for these adoptive families when raising a child.

Providing support for birth parents choosing adoption

Providing support services for birth mothers and fathers should also be a part of an overall adoption benefits program. For many birth parents that choose adoption for their child, it is one of the most difficult decisions one can make and can be a result of countless reasons including unplanned pregnancy. As a business, you can support in several ways:

• Providing mental health support, such as access to counselors. Offering options to help a birth parent make the best decision for their family.
• Providing additional PTO or flexible work schedules so birth parents can travel to court dates or meet prospective parents. 

Providing support by using adoption-inclusive language in the workplace

Adoption is as important and valid for family building as any other method for starting and growing a family. Inclusive language can be crucial to creating an adoption-friendly atmosphere in your workplace. Avoid terms like “giving up for adoption,” which can have negative connotations. Both the adoptive parent and birth parents are “choosing adoption.” Another term to avoid is “real” parents; people build adoptive families in various ways, and each journey is genuine and unique. If the topic comes up, “birth parents” or "birth mothers and fathers" is the correct way to refer to the person(s) that birthed the child. 

Education and sensitivity around why people choose adoption also help foster an inclusive and adoption-positive environment. Each adoption story is different—some choose to adopt even if they already have, or can have, biological children. Others choose to adopt due to infertility, while others may be in same-sex relationships and decide to adopt rather than pursue surrogacy or undergo fertility treatments like IVF.

A checklist for successful adoption support programs

Now that you understand the various complexities of adoption, it can better inform discussions on what to provide employees for adoption benefits. Below is a checklist of benefits and support your organization may want to include as part of your adoption support program:

How Maven Clinic can help you develop an effective adoption employee benefits program

Maven, the leading women's and family healthcare company, can be a valuable partner in developing a comprehensive, inclusive adoption benefits program. Through our on-demand platform, employees have 24/7 access to adoption experts, mental health professionals, resources, classes, and expense management and reimbursement. To learn more about how Maven can support your employees as they start and raise their adoptive families, schedule a demo today.