Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Family Leave Adoption topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subcommittee approves bill letting adoptive parents use state-paid family leave when child is placed
Summary
The House Education Administration Subcommittee voted unanimously to send House Bill 1150 to full Education, approving language that lets adoptive parents qualify for state-paid family leave when they receive court-ordered custody or guardianship or a parental power of attorney rather than waiting for final adoption.
House Bill 1150, which clarifies when an adoption is considered to begin for purposes of state-paid family leave, moved out of the House Education Administration Subcommittee by voice vote after sponsors and an adoptive parent described gaps in current practice.
Representative Miller, sponsor of HB 1150, told the committee that Tennessee law’s requirement that finalization hearings occur at least six months after placement can leave adoptive families unable to use state-paid family leave because recent state employee paid family leave must be used within the first 12 months after a new child’s placement. Miller said the bill “fixes the gap” by clarifying that adoption begins when the adopting family receives a court order, parental power of attorney or guardianship allowing physical custody of the child.
Drew Norman, an adoptive father who testified with his wife and infant daughter in the committee room, described the family’s experience. Norman said his school employer’s human resources office told him that Department of Education guidance interpreted the right to leave as beginning only at finalization. He said one of his adoptions took 13 months to finalize, and another took eight months, forcing him to use sick and vacation days and FMLA rather than paid parental leave. “We feel like adoptive families deserve that same right,” Norman said, describing the five-figure financial and bonding impact when paid leave is not available at placement.
Representative Pugh and other committee members thanked the Normans for testifying. Committee members raised no amendments and the subcommittee proceeded to a vote. The clerk reported six ayes; HB 1150 was moved to the full Education Committee.
The bill’s sponsor said the change only adjusts the definition of when an adoption begins for leave eligibility; it does not change other adoption procedures. Committee minutes show no amendment was adopted on the floor of the subcommittee.
