Letter Campaign

The Issue: Currently, 35 weeks of EI benefits for parental leave are accessible to adoptive parents however; the 15 weeks designated to the maternity benefit plan is not available to those who become parents through adoption rather than birth.

So I ask - do you mean to tell me that as an adoptive mom who needs to spend a lot of time working on attachment and bonding with my little one, I will get to spend 15 weeks less with him or her because I am not the birth parent? Well what does one say in response to something so absurd? Well I guess I am not the only one wondering about this because the Adoption Council of Canada has started a letter writing campaign.

Find your member of parliament here and send them a letter letting them know how you feel about it.
See sample letter below.

Date:
Name: (Your Honourable member of Parliament)

Dear Minister __________:

I am writing to express my desire to see our Government implement an Employment Insurance Benefit Plan for Adoptive Parents equivalent in nature to the Maternity Employment Insurance Benefits enjoyed by mothers who give birth. The Adoption Council of Canada and the North American Council on Adoptable Children would like to express their support of this important issue by stating, “We recommend amending the Labour Code to provide an adoptive parent leave with the same level of benefits provided through maternity leave.”

Currently, 35 weeks of EI benefits for parental leave are accessible to adoptive parents however; the 15 weeks designated to the maternity benefit plan is not available to those who become parents through adoption rather than birth. The grounds for the omission of adoptive parents from the maternity benefit plan is that this particular benefit is intended to allow the mother who gives birth time to recover from the physical and psychological stresses of birth.

We challenge the Government of Canada to recognize that adoptive parents while perhaps not giving birth to a child have significant parallel issues that are equivalent to that of the parent who has had a child by way of birth. Adoption professionals and researchers around the world identify just a few of these issues as:
§ Post adoption depression for the adoptive parent often seen as a result of the adoption process
§ Attachment and bonding (from parent to child or child to parent)
§ Health issues or developmental delays for the child
§ Language barriers and cultural adjustments as well as the onerous adoption process (international adoption)
§ Issues of trauma, abuse, neglect or multiple foster care placements which make it difficult for the parents to build an immediate trust relationship with the child

We respectfully request your support of this important action for equality for adoptive parents and their children.


Your Signature

Your Name
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