What is adoption leave

When an employee adopts a child, it is possible for him/her to enjoy a adoption leave. To do so, it must meet certain conditions. During this leave, she may receive compensation.

Who can benefit from adoption leave?

A recognized organization

For an employed individual to benefit from this leave, it is essential that the adoption was made under the legal conditions. The body that entrusted the child to him or her must therefore be the departmental child welfare service, or the French Adoption Agency, or another French body with a legal authorization for adoption. If the adoption was made outside these organizations, the leave will not be authorized.

Adoption in France

For an adoption on French soil, the employee must give his employer a photocopy of the offer to receive a child. He will also have to provide a declaration on the honour of his spouse (considered as the other adoptive parent) attesting that he does not benefit from another adoption leave on his side. Adoption leave can be split, but it is not possible for each parent to benefit from their own leave.

Adopting abroad

For an adoption abroad, the employee may request availability or leave without pay in order to travel to the country in which he/she wishes to adopt a child. The duration of this unpaid leave is a maximum of 6 weeks. To benefit from this leave, the employee must send a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to his employer, specifying the date of departure for the leave and the date of return to work. This request must be made at least 15 days before departure.

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The duration of adoption leave.

Its duration is variable because it is assessed according to the number of children the employee adopts and the number of children he already has to support.

• When the employee adopts only one child and the number of dependent children is between 0 and 1, the duration of the leave is 10 weeks.
• When the employee adopts only one child and the number of children already dependent is 2 or more, the duration of the leave is 18 weeks.
• When the employee adopts 2 or more children and the number of dependent children is 0 or more, the duration of the leave is 22 weeks.

It should be noted that this leave may begin one week before the arrival of the adopted child, or on the very day of his or her arrival in the family.

If the adoption is made by a household of employees, the duration of the adoption leave may be increased by 11 days if only one child is adopted, and by 18 days if several children are adopted. If the employed parents so wish, they may share this leave, in which case it may be taken over the same period or one after the other. If parents decide to split the leave, it can only be split into two periods. The shortest period should be a minimum of 11 calendar days.

Adoption leave and employer.

An employee who applies for adoption leave is required to inform his or her employer. To do this, he can either send him a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, or deliver the mail by hand and deliver a receipt. The letter should provide the following information: reason for the leave, start date and end date of the leave. The employer must know the exact dates because the employee's employment contract is suspended for the duration of his adoption leave. That is, an employer cannot refuse this request.

Adoption leave and benefits.

During the leave, the employee may receive daily compensation but must meet certain conditions to do so

• It must have been registered with the Social Security for at least 10 months at the time of the adopted child's arrival.
• He must have worked 200 hours in the 90 days preceding the child's arrival in the family. If this is not the case, the employee must have contributed 1015 times the minimum hourly minimum during the 6 months preceding the arrival of the child.
• He must not engage in any professional activity during his adoption leave, or while he is receiving his daily allowance.

Administrative formalities must be completed to receive this compensation. The employee must..:

• If he adopts on French soil, the employee must send to the Social Security a certificate issued by the departmental adoption service, which specifies the date on which the child joins the home.
• If the employee adopts abroad, he must provide a copy of the child's passport on which the visa issued by the French association for adoption must appear. He must also provide the certificate issued by the departmental adoption service.

The amount of daily compensation.

The compensation paid by the Social Security to the employee for his adoption leave is determined according to a daily salary. This basic salary is calculated on the basis of the average income received by the employee over the 3 months preceding the child's arrival in the household.

The employee will receive a minimum of €9.20 per day and a maximum of €81.49 per day.

End of adoption leave.

When the leave ends, the employee returns to the position he or she held, or an equivalent position, without a change in salary, or in any case at least equivalent. If the person was on an open-ended contract, he or she has the possibility of breaking it to devote himself or herself to the education of the child he or she has just adopted. This termination of contract must be made at the end of the adoption leave or within 60 days of the child's arrival in the family. In this case, the employee must of course inform his employer by sending him a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, or give him the mail in person against a receipt. The letter should explain the reasons for the termination of the contract and should be sent to the employer at least 15 days before.