Karnataka Mothers Who Adopt Newborns Below The Age Of One To Get 180 Days Of Maternity Leave

In a significant move, the Karnataka government has issued an order allowing its employees who adopt children to avail maternity and paternity leaves, as stipulated for biological parents.

The new rules will allow mothers who have adopted a child to take 180 days of maternity leave, while granting 15 days of paternity leave for fathers, same as that given to biological parents.

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Progressive move

Earlier, parents who adopted children had to use their own leaves. In the earlier system, women were given 60 days of leave, which included their own commuted leaves and casual leaves.

¡°The government has recognised that even adoptive parents need time to bond with the child. In certain cases there might be a single parent adopting too. Keeping this in view, it was important to extend maternity leave benefits for all,¡± an official who wished to remain anonymous told Deccan Herald.

However, the leaves will be applicable to adopted children below the age of one.

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The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 provides for adoption leave of 12 weeks for a woman who adopts a child under the age of three months.

A commissioning mother is also entitled to a 12-week leave from the date the child is handed over to her. A commissioning mother is defined as ¡°biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo implanted in any other woman¡± (the woman who gives birth to the child is called host or surrogate mother).