Adoption Policy

[Guest mfurnstahl]

Does your organization provide employees with an adoption policy? Paying for any of their time away from work during the time of adoption? Or pay anything toward the expenses incurred for adoption? If so, I would appreciate receiving some information from you. Thank you in advance for your help.

[Guest nac]

We're a mid-sized insurance company. Adoption benefits include $5000 toward adoption expenses (max 2 kids per lifetime) and 2 paid days off, along with FMLA unpaid time. I realize the days off aren't very generous!

For a good overview of what companies are offering, check out Working Mother Magazine's Top 100 Companies listing - they give detail on the top 100 companies about the level of adoption benefits each company offers.

[Guest Linda P]

I saw an article on a recent Hewitt survey on adoption benefits. 26% of surveyed employers offer adoption benefits. Average max. is $2,776. Of the companies offering adoption benefits, 69% pay legal fees and 53% pay the medical expenses of the birth mother.

Hope this helps.

[Guest Robert Clark]

Have there been any new developments or studies on the matter of Adoption policy, and benefits. I have a client compnay, all chief execs are female, and the question of fertility, invitro, adoption, etc. has never been raised.... Needless to say, there is a great deal of interest in the matter. When I investiage the question, the dollars do not, repeat -- do not seem so unreasonable as underwriters, business owners, and agents would have us believe. An interesting example of how the facts don't support the hype... Thanks much.

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Robert S Clark

[Guest Tara Aguilar]

If your company offers an adoption assistance benefit, can you tell me how much is reimbursed and what your utilization of the benefit is?

Thanks

[Guest nac]

New England region, mid-sized insurance company (about 3000 ees). We reimburse up to $5,000 per adoption, max 2 per lifetime. Reimbursements include most expenses associated with the actual adoption and vary greatly.

One of the reasons we upped the benefit from $2000 to $5000 was the question of birth expenses. Our health plan doesn't cover a child until it is actually placed with the employee, so the question of hospital nursery expenses comes up. In many adoptions, the adoptive parents agree to pay the child's medical expenses from birth.

We typically see 2-3 per year. We also give (besides FMLA) 5 paid days.

For a good idea of who offers them, and how much they offer, check out the Working Mother 100 Best.

The bottom line is that it's really relatively small money, but very high visibility.