EI benefits for adoptive parents ‘positive step’
Alberta lauds federal plan
Alberta Human Services is applauding a new federal program providing support for parents who decide they want to adopt a foster child, giving them parental leave and employment insurance benefits before the adoption even becomes official.
“It’s always a positive step when new initiatives are introduced that give families more choice and more flexibility,” said Cathy Ducharme, a spokeswoman for Alberta Human Services.
Although some adoptive families may choose to continue working and not take a full year of parental leave, others may feel they really need that bonding time and take the year off, with EI benefits.
“Each family is different, but what’s important is they now all have more options,” Ducharme added.
Parents who decide they want to adopt a foster child will now be able to take parental leave before they have legally adopted the child under new employment insurance rules announced by the federal government this week.
As soon as parents show that they have a “demonstrable commitment” to adopt a foster child, they will become eligible for EI parental benefits. Parents will no longer be required to submit an adoption application to a provincial or territorial court to qualify for benefits, says Human Resources and Skills Development.
Ducharme stressed that, although it is the intention for most kids to go back to their biological parents, of those few deemed adoptable, up to 50 per cent of them go to foster parents or kinship parents, defined as extended family.
Whereas before prospective families would have had to wait until their adoption became legal to qualify for parental leave, now they can choose to stay home with a child while they are waiting for their adoption request to be processed. Karen Evoy, manager with program legislation and policy support for Alberta Human Services, added the new program wouldn’t serve as a recruitment tool, but she stressed the province is always working to welcome more prospective foster parents. “We’re always looking for more foster parents,” she says, often in the hopes that foster kids have increased options of staying closer to their biological parents or extended family. As of last June, Alberta had 2,410 foster homes and 13,086 kinship homes. This week, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said introducing the new rules “seemed the right thing to do.” But how much the new rules may cost taxpayers is still unclear, and will depend on how many parents decide to take part in the program. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada expects the changes to affect about 400 families annually. Right now, there are about 2,000 adoptions of all kinds across the country annually, with Finley adding that she hopes that number will increase as the new rules take effect. Parental benefits under the EI program are provided to parents who take time off work to be with a newborn or newly adopted child and are good for a maximum of 35 weeks.