skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, December 13, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Dry-cleaning workers better protected under EPA chemical ban; Homeland Security shares new details of mysterious drone flights over New Jersey; New law seeks to change how state legislature vacancies are filled; MN joins the carbon capture pipeline wave with permit approval.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Biden carries out the largest ever single-day act of clemency, voting rights advocates raise alarm over Trump's pick to lead Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and election denier Kari Lake is tapped to lead Voice of America.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Conservative voters surprised pundits by casting election votes for Trump but also against school vouchers, Pennsylvania's Black mayors work to unite their communities, and America's mental health providers try new techniques.

Workplace adoption benefits help families, communities

play audio
Play

Friday, June 21, 2024   

More employers are offering benefits to adoptive parents, according to a new survey by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The amount of paid leave offered to foster parents is now nearly 10 weeks, up 3% from last year.

Jeremy Madden, a resident of Liberty Township, Ohio, and his wife relied on workplace adoption benefits through his employer, Fifth Third Bank, to adopt their baby daughter. He said the process was easy and the financial reimbursement was a game changer, as adoption can cost thousands of dollars. Now, they've settled into life as a family.

"She's fantastic, we wouldn't change anything," he said. "She's brought so much joy and happiness into our life. She's developing her own personality. She is super smart."

Companies that offer new adoption benefits include Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Inc. and Ziff Davis Inc. Highly ranked companies include Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Liberty Media Corp., American Express and MongoDB Inc. Ferring Pharmaceuticals topped the list for providing unlimited financial reimbursement for adoption costs and 26 weeks of paid leave to adoptive parents.

Rita Soronen, the foundation's CEO, cited a 10% increase on average in financial reimbursement for adoption.

"It tells the employees that we're a family-friendly organization, that there's equity if we're offering benefits for families that are formed through birth, we also want to give benefits to families that are formed through adoption," she said, "and it creates a sense of loyalty and retention and goodwill."

She said it's important for employers to consider foster and adoption benefits, not only for its employees, but the good of the community.

"It says to the community that we understand that there are lots of ways that our families are formed," she said, "and we can provide the kind of supports that a family might need to move to that next phase of being a unified and thriving family."

According to the National Council for Adoption, 2022 saw the fewest number of adoptions from foster care since 2015, around 53,000 children nationwide.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
After some initial permit roadblocks, Summit Carbon Solutions has been gaining approval in Midwestern states for a large-scale carbon capture project involving ethanol plants. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A massive carbon capture project proposed for the Midwest has another permit under its belt after Minnesota regulators gave their approval Thursday…


Social Issues

play sound

The Environmental Protection Agency this week banned a toxic chemical commonly used in dry cleaning and other consumer products. Trichloroethylene …

Social Issues

play sound

A new study provides New York State with an outline of necessary updates to its school funding formula. The Rockefeller Institute study called for …


Virginia is one of the top 10 states in the nation for Christmas tree production. (jannoon028/Freepik)

Social Issues

play sound

As families across the country prepare to celebrate the holiday season, the joy of decorating a Christmas tree is a time-honored tradition. But the …

Social Issues

play sound

Rising grocery prices and the end of pandemic-era benefits have left many Virginia families struggling to make ends meet. A recent poll from No Kid …

Social Issues

play sound

Lawmakers in Annapolis plan to introduce a bill to require a special election if a lawmaker is appointed to a seat in the first half of their term…

Social Issues

play sound

A new report from the Michigan League for Public Policy reveals that eviction injustice is locking many Michigan families out of safe, stable housing…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021