Vote set on Paid Family Leave in NJ

The full New Jersey Assembly is scheduled to vote tomorrow on A-873 — its version of Senate bill S-786 approved last week — which would guarantee workers six weeks of paid leave for, among other things, caring for a newly adopted child. Click the Paid Family Leave tab above for past posts chronicling the bills, [...]

NJ advances open records, family leave legislation!

It’s been quite a busy week here in New Jersey for legislators and those with a stake in adoption-related laws.
Two bills — which for many years have floundered at various stages of the legislative process — have each made a substantial leap forward, and hold more hope than ever for adoptees seeking open access to [...]

Survey for first parents

Received a heads-up about this very important survey from an adoptive mom friend of mine.
It’s actually for first parents, and the letter accompanying the survey link is written by Roberta MacDonald, chairwoman of the North Carolina Coalition for Adoption Reform and the state’s representive on the American Adoption Congress.
She explains the goal of receiving input in [...]

NJ’s adoption leave bill lives!

Rally your troops. Circle your wagons. Write a legislator.
It’s been a year since S-2249, New Jersey’s paid family leave bill, was introduced and it still has a pulse, folks.
On Thursday, Dec. 6, the measure will face its next test as it comes up for a vote by the state’s Assembly Labor Committee. This summer Gov. Jon [...]

Today’s NPR program on open records

If you can, tune in to NPR today at 3 pm (Eastern time) for its “Talk of the Nation” program which promises to be a lively discussion about access to birth and adoption records.
Panelists are Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Tom Atwood of the National Council for Adoption as well as [...]

Opening adoption records

With all the hubbub today after the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released its white paper, “For the Records: Restoring a Right to Adult Adoptees” — which recommends every state provide adoptees’ access to their original birth certificates — and news organizations picked up the report, thought I’d offer up the link to the full white [...]

NaBloPoMo 2007

This month marks one year since I began this little blogging spot for myself, with all sorts of goals and fresh-faced optimism at making her a living, breathing entity that would loosely chronicle my experiences as a first-time parent and as a mother and a wife touched by adoption, as well as serving as a place to [...]

Gathering for adoption ethics

This fall, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and Ethica will bring together researchers, practitioners, authors and adoption and foster care activists for a conference outside Washington, D.C., on adoption ethics and accountability.
The two-day program in October, “Doing it Right Makes a Lifetime of Difference,” includes near 50 speakers and panel discussions and workshops on myriad issues, including [...]

Adoption Leave moves forward!

Success! S-2249 was approved 8-6 today by the Budget and Appropriations Committee and will now be sent to the full Senate for consideration!
New Jersey is on its way — at least closer than ever before — to securing paid family leave for all, and being the second state in the nation to stand by its [...]

Adoption Leave: Sample language

One more reminder that tomorrow’s the vote on S-2249, the bill to mandate paid family leave, which would include adoptive parents.
Need a quick primer? Scroll down a couple posts to get the full story and links to past essays detailing the bill.
Now’s the time to send off those notes of support to the heads of [...]