# Pre-adoption leave?



## apparition (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi GUYS
I am attempting to get my employer to grant me leave for adoption appointments on much the same basis that pregnant ladies get maternity appointments. The appointments are starting to eat into my leve and I see that lots of councils in England and some NHS departments give this.

Have any of you got this and and at what stage - pre or post approval or simply got plain adoption leave when the child arrived?

I really think it is a fair request and worth a try.

Thanks Apps


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Hi,

Neither me or my DH got this and work for blue chip companies.
I think it's quite rare?
Antenatal appts are health related and it's not compulsory for partners to get time off for them.

However you could make a case that some spots would be like the pre classes as these are about the birth and looking after baby rather than a full medical appt.
I think your employer could be flexible ie let u make up time on other days so you don't use your annual leave?
Good luck x


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## bambinolove (Jan 4, 2010)

Hi,

I work for a Fund Manager in London and I did get this. I think it totally depends on the HR policies in place at your company. Mine are really exceptional rather than the norm from what I gather but when I spoke to HR they used the same theory as you, if I was pregnant I'd have had appts. I also used to work at home to use minimal time away from my 'desk'. Could you do that? I was limited to 10 appts as when they asked me how many it would take I told them what the SW told us. It was more, and I did have to use my hols for them. I have now renegotiated for the matching and placed an emphasis on the 'how long is a piece of string' theory. 
Good luck!


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## KJB1978 (Nov 23, 2010)

Definetely ask HR.  My hubby asked his boss who said No so he went and spoke to someone in HR who was very helpful and it ended up that he only took a few hours from leave here and there and around 90% of it was given to him for free which we are very grateful for.

We ensured that all appointments were at the end of the day so it meant missing a few hours not half a day etc.  As long as you can show you can be flexible hopefully they will be supportive.


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## Arrows (Nov 9, 2008)

I've had discretionary leave for all of mine but unpaid -though I tried to arrange for as many appointments as possible to be out of work hours.
However, my husband has found time off a little more difficult as he works for a small company. He has generally used up holiday leave which is annoying but at least paid.
Having said all of this I believe we are both the first people in our companies to have taken adoption leave so had to fight for our rights a few times.


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## Dreams do come true (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi, 

My DH and I work for the same company (FTSE 100) and it stated in the adoption policy that we could take reasonable amount of time for pre adoption appointments...but it was vague so I approached HR and advised that we need 5 days each as pre adoption appointments and we considered that to be reasonable they agreed so we got full pay, 5 days each.

You tell them what you want...as adoption policies seem vague 

Good luck x


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## apparition (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi guys
Thanks for your replies.
HR department said adoption leave definitely only granted once child placed.
That said there was no facility for leave before that.
It was that that prompted my post as I want to go back to them with some evidence of other companies good practice.
Considering getting my union involved.

Will keep you all posted.
Thanks Apps


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## Arrows (Nov 9, 2008)

Apps, definitely get your union involved -you're definitely entitled to time off to attend necessary meetings but not necessarily paid. They cannot discriminate against you!

I've lost out on 2 permanent posts within my dept and I'm almost certain that it's because I'm adopting but got no proof. I figure at the minute that as long as I have a job and they're giving me teaching I don't want to jeopardise anything in the meantime.


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## AoC (Oct 28, 2008)

I work for the NHS, although there's nothing written in policy about pre-adoption leave.  I asked for, and got, authorised leave (paid leave, not impacting annual leave entitlements) for prep course and panels, but used flexi/lieu time for home study.  We had a mix of work time and evening home study appts.

Hope that helps!


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## katie c (Jun 15, 2009)

i'm currently fighting my employer to make the (statutory) adpotion leave pay to match the (very generous enhanced) maternity leave pay. seem to be getting no where fast but i'm still trying!

it is desperately unfair. its not as if loads of people adopt every year and dozens go on maternity leave


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## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

I used annual leave for our prep course but when I was preparing for adoption leave I noticed our work's adoption leave web pages hadn't been updated in about 5 years (so were below statutory minimum). I pointed this out to HR who were clearly too busy to do anything else and just copied and pasted the maternity leave page (they did manage to change Maternity to Adoption). Very good result!

If we go for fostering or concurrency in the future you don't get any leave but you have the right to request flexible working. I'll be pushing for some paid leave for any prep courses associated with that, for sure.


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

my friend is a community nurse in the NHS and her manager gave her most of the time for visits and allowed her flex hours to suit


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