Employer Assistance
Thirty-one percent of employers provide adoption benefits for employees. Although benefits may be limited to time off to care for an adopted child, many companies are offering cash reimbursements for adoption expenses as well. It is worth asking your employer! The late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's restaurants and proponent of adoption benefits for employees, urges employees to simply go to their employers and ask for adoption benefits. "They [prospective adoptive parents] can go talk to their bosses and ask them to put it in. It's amazing what happens when people start talking." Thomas also noted that it is important to call an employer's attention to the matter of fairness. As he put it, "I think anyone who has maternity benefits can see it's the right thing to offer adoption benefits. They go hand in hand" (Businessweek Online: February 21, 2000, p.1)
