Did you take maternity leave?

Yep, I took my leave when AD came to us. She was not a foster-adopt placement, but I wasn't sure if i wanted to continue working or not. My company offered 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks unpaid leave. I took the 6 weeks paid leave, and informed them I was not returning! Best decision I ever made. As far as daycare reimbursement, that is different everywhere.

I took 3 months when my son (foster adopt) came home. If you qualify for FMLA (assuming the company you work for is big enough), then you can wait and take your leave when the adoption is finalized, which some families prefer to do. When my daughter came home, I couldn't afford to take the unpaid portion of the time off, so I took 2 weeks, but because I qualify for FMLA I can take the rest (2 1/2 months) within a year of that first time taken off. So you could theoretically take some time now and some later if you want to be sure. You only qualify for a total of 3 months within 12 months, so if your first placement didn't lead to adoption then you only have the portion of the 3 months you didn't take for the first placement. I think I would base the decision off of how low risk your placement is, although I doubt you could have convinced me not to stay home with my son when I was able to ;)

California pays for the first 6 weeks of family leave, so with my daughter I took 6 weeks. She was a very low legal risk placement, so I felt confident in taking it. I also took 6 weeks at placement of my son, but it was unpaid since I already had used up the paid portion with my daughter. My county doesn't pay for daycare so it comes out of the stipend. Actually, for an infant, daycare is about twice as much as the stipend, so I don't imagine they get too many working foster parents unless they are hoping to adopt.

I feel pretty lucky. My company gives the time off..which is great. BUT in addition, my boss is also supporting me. Which makes any time off I have that much easier to take!

I worked part time for the first two weeks she was home, but wish I could have taken much more time off to help us settle in. The organizatin I worked for at the time didn't qualify for FMLA, plus we couldn't afford to miss out on my pay. If you can swing time off, I say do it!

As a teacher in Massachusetts, I am allowed up to 8 weeks paid but it all depends on how many sick days you have saved up. For me, I have 34 sick days so my first 7 weeks will be paid and the remainder will be unpaid. Any additional time after 8 weeks is always unpaid!:hissy:

Dog maturity golden retriever? how long is a golden retiever considered a puppy

I am planning a 4 week leave when my current FS transitions to our home (we currently only have him weekends). My boss is supportive and I have enough PTO to take the leave as paid.

I am currently on unpaid FMLA w/ Lil Chief, we picked him up from the hospital so someone had to be home with him until he is 6 weeks to go to daycare. I have 2 weeks left before I go back to work. The county reimburses us up to $100 a week for daycare which coveres about half of infant daycare and the rest we have from the stipend. It was a struggle making the budget work with only one check but really worth it. BioSon 9 yr :bullwhip: BioSon 4 yr:cowboy: First Placement @ 4 days, 12/15 Lil Chief :firefighter: currently 4 weeks