45 Conversations Media & Education Ltd.

Early Learning & Child Care Consulting + Online ECE Workshops

How Much Time is Enough for Adopted Children?

by Leave a Comment

Time to Bond with Adopted Children is Key

This Editorial in the Leader-Post caught my attention this morning.  It was originally published in the Calgary Herald along with a news story earlier this month. Being a strong advocate for adoption and for children and their parents having ample time to bond together in the early years I think it raises some critical points.  Some how this law just doesn’t seem right any longer…

Time to bond

The Calgary Herald

Published: Monday, August 20, 2007

A mother of a newborn is still a mother, regardless of whether she gave birth to her baby or adopted the child. It is patently unfair for the federal government to discriminate against adoptive mothers by denying them 15 extra weeks of maternity leave to which birth mothers are entitled.

Patti Tomasson, a B.C. mom who adopted two girls at birth, is taking her case to the Supreme Court after the Federal Court of Appeal denied her claim.

The court upheld the discriminatory practice on the grounds that birth mothers are granted the extra time to recuperate from giving birth.

Such reasoning has no basis in reality. Recovering from birth, whether normal or cesarean, takes about six weeks; the greatest portion of maternity leave is spent cementing the bond between mother and child — a bond that is equally crucial to adoptive families. It is rather ironic for the court to be claiming an additional 15 weeks is needed for physical recovery when some hospitals feel women are well enough to be sent home within 24 hours of giving birth.

It is a shame that parents in special circumstances must continually fight to be treated the same as other parents.

In 1998, Winnipegger Kevin Rollason was denied parental leave after being told he had applied too late for it. The reason he waited was that his disabled daughter, Mary, spent the first 10 months of her life in hospital.

Rollason opted to take his leave later so he could care for Mary when she was finally home.

He launched a six-year battle against the federal government and won — the law was changed to allow parents of disabled children to postpone their leaves.

Tomasson deserves just such a victory, too.

– This editorial was originally published in the Calgary Herald.

Parenting Skills Come In Handy at Work

by Leave a Comment

In an article today by Hannah Clark, the findings of a study on how well parents function in the workplace are revealed:

PERHAPS business schools should start teaching parenting classes. According to new research, mums and dads perform better in the office.

Researchers from Clark University and the Center for Creative Leadership in the US interviewed 347 managers and executives, mostly from large public companies, about their family lives.

Then they talked to the participants’ colleagues, subordinates and bosses about their work performance.

Those who were committed to family life achieved significantly better reviews. The parents were batter at multitasking, handling stress and negotiating, said Marian Ruderman, one of the study’s authors.

“In parenting roles you get a chance to do a lot of the same things you do as a manager,” Ms Ruderman said. “You get to hone your interpersonal skills. You learn how to develop other people. It’s another opportunity to learn from experience.”