Parents who adopt should be given the same leave and pay entitlements as mothers receive under maternity arrangements, according to the chief executive of Adoption UK.
In a speech at a Conservative Party Conference fringe event organised by the charity, Jonathan Pearce said the current adoption leave and pay system fails to value adoptive parents.
"Once adopters have gone through the process and they are approved to have children placed with them, usually the first thing they encounter is the fact that the paid leave system from work disadvantages them," he said.
"They have fewer rights in relation to what they receive in terms of adoption pay compared to maternity pay and there is a higher requirement for accessing adoption leave as opposed to maternity leave."
Pearce argued that leave and pay for adoptive parents should at least be aligned with maternity arrangements, adding that there is a case for adoptive parents receiving more support and time off from work.
"There are arguments to say that actually those adoption pay and leave entitlements should be more than maternity, because of the bonds that children are trying to build with their parents and the experiences they have had in the past," he said.
"We did some sums on what it means to an adoptive parent if they are going on leave. For a parent earning £25,000 a year it works out at £1,500 less than they would get annually on a maternity package. This is at the same time as adopters are being encouraged by their adoption agencies to give up more time than they might otherwise have to as new parents, because of the challenges that their children might present to them."
Pearce called on government to also reconsider classifying adopted children as looked-after children for the purposes of the education system.
"Looked-after children have access to priority in the school admissions system so they are top of the list and can choose which school to go to," he explained. "As soon as the adoption order goes through, that’s withdrawn and the children are just treated as any other child.
"That’s a distinction and a discrimination that we don’t really get. If we really value adoptive families and recognise the background and histories of adopted children then why do we distinguish between looked-after and adopted children?"
Denise Murphy, interim chief executive of Grandparents Plus, backed the call for better support for adoptive parents, but warned that there is also a lack of help for other groups looking after children in the care system, such as kinship carers.
"In kinship care there is exactly the same lack of support," she said. "There are 300,000 children at any one time in the care of their wider family or friends and they have just the same lack of flexibility in terms of leave from work."
"Once adopters have gone through the process and they are approved to have children placed with them, usually the first thing they encounter is the fact that the paid leave system from work disadvantages them," he said.
"They have fewer rights in relation to what they receive in terms of adoption pay compared to maternity pay and there is a higher requirement for accessing adoption leave as opposed to maternity leave."
Pearce argued that leave and pay for adoptive parents should at least be aligned with maternity arrangements, adding that there is a case for adoptive parents receiving more support and time off from work.
"There are arguments to say that actually those adoption pay and leave entitlements should be more than maternity, because of the bonds that children are trying to build with their parents and the experiences they have had in the past," he said.
"We did some sums on what it means to an adoptive parent if they are going on leave. For a parent earning £25,000 a year it works out at £1,500 less than they would get annually on a maternity package. This is at the same time as adopters are being encouraged by their adoption agencies to give up more time than they might otherwise have to as new parents, because of the challenges that their children might present to them."
Pearce called on government to also reconsider classifying adopted children as looked-after children for the purposes of the education system.
"Looked-after children have access to priority in the school admissions system so they are top of the list and can choose which school to go to," he explained. "As soon as the adoption order goes through, that’s withdrawn and the children are just treated as any other child.
"That’s a distinction and a discrimination that we don’t really get. If we really value adoptive families and recognise the background and histories of adopted children then why do we distinguish between looked-after and adopted children?"
Denise Murphy, interim chief executive of Grandparents Plus, backed the call for better support for adoptive parents, but warned that there is also a lack of help for other groups looking after children in the care system, such as kinship carers.
"In kinship care there is exactly the same lack of support," she said. "There are 300,000 children at any one time in the care of their wider family or friends and they have just the same lack of flexibility in terms of leave from work."
