Asking the Experts: How to Get Started with Foster Care and Adoption Benefits Policies
These need-to-have policies are critical to working families.
With adoption ranging in costs from $2,500 for a foster care adoption to up to $60,000 for a private infant or international adoption, it’s easy to see why an employer’s support would be a significant consideration.
The Foundation’s Adoption-Friendly Workplace program started more than 30 years ago when founder Dave Thomas started to encourage other business leaders to offer support to adoptive families, simply because he believed it was, “the right thing to do.”
But how does an organization create a benefits policy that supports employees in becoming foster and adoptive parents and what should be considered?
We asked the experts and created a FREE resource to help.
The Adoption-Friendly Workplace toolkit is the first step to creating benefit policies to support employees who want to foster and or adopt. The annual Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace survey allows the Foundation to measure the depth and breadth of benefits offered by employers in the United States. The survey scores organizations based on financial reimbursement, paid leave and percentage of employees eligible for the benefit. In addition to the 100 Best list, the survey findings share the latest trends by size, industry, paid leave, foster care benefits and impact. Year-round, organizations connect with the Foundation to learn more, participate in presentations and share stories of impact.
The Foundation, in partnership with the Congressional Coalition for Adoption Institute, invited survey participants to Washington D.C. for a roundtable discussion about how to implement these benefits and their significance in the workplace.
These human resource experts and adoptive parents shared valuable insights and guidance about how to create a policy or augment an existing policy:
Kimm Isgar is the Director of Benefits at Akin, an elite global law firm. Her advice: Take a leap.
Andrew Lewis is a partner at KPMG LLP, the U.S. member firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms providing audit, tax and advisory services. An adoptive father, Lewis founded an employee support network open to everyone at the firm and aims to support the adoption community. He also helped make recommendations to improve the firm’s adoption and foster care benefits policy.
Isgar explained that some companies hold back from creating a policy because they think that they will open the flood gates, and with a financial reimbursement policy, budgets must be considered. “It’s important to realize that just because I created a policy, doesn’t mean everyone is going to adopt. But for those families already in the process or seriously considering it, this is a lifeline,” said Isgar. “Utilization remains low, but it’s the impact of the benefit to the families who need it that is most important.”
Once policies are in place, both Lewis and Isgar said it’s important to stay competitive. “The toolkit is a great place to start so that you aren’t starting with a blank slate,” said Lewis.
President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Rita Soronen, shared her message of gratitude to all organizations that support working families. “Thank you to the companies that offer adoption and foster care benefits,” said Soronen. “They are showing everyone that this is not something frivolous. This is part of their culture of supporting families.”
Getting Started with Adoption and Foster Care Benefits in the Workplace
If your organization doesn’t yet offer benefits to employees who foster and adopt, get the conversation started by downloading the Adoption-Friendly Workplace employer toolkit. And if benefits are already in place, invite your HR Benefits Manager to register for the Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace survey now for the chance to be recognized and gain valuable benchmark reports to inform your policy.
By offering best-in-class benefits, organizations can demonstrate the importance of being equitable to all the ways families are formed.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a national, nonprofit public charity dedicated to finding permanent homes for the more than 140,000 children waiting in North America’s foster care systems. Created by Wendy’s® founder Dave Thomas who was adopted, the Foundation implements evidence-based, results-driven national service programs, foster care adoption awareness campaigns and innovative grantmaking. To learn more, visit davethomasfoundation.org or call 1-800-ASK-DTFA.