The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

82 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Leave for Placement of a Foster Child
A new or soon-to-be foster parent is also entitled to FMLA leave to spend
time with the foster child and to deal with the foster placement process.
Foster care is 24-hour care of a child by someone other than the child’s
parent or guardian. Foster placement is made either by an agreement
between the state and the foster parent or by court order. In either case, the
state must be involved for a child placement to qualify as foster care under
the FMLA: Informal custody arrangements, even for emergency childcare,
don’t qualify unless the state plays a role in the placement.
As with the adoption of a child, an eligible employee is entitled to take
FMLA leave to attend to matters related to the placement of a foster child
with that employee, whether the need for leave arises before or after the
actual placement. A foster parent may need time off to attend hearings,
examinations, and other proceedings, and that time is protected.
Parental Certifications
When an employee requests parenting leave, you can ask that employee to
give you documentation showing that he or she is in fact the biological,
adoptive, or foster parent of a newborn or newly placed child. Such
documentation might include:
• a birth certificate
• an adoption decree or court order, or
• a foster placement certification or court order.
See “Proving a Family Relationship,” in Chapter 4, for more information
on these certifications, including a sample form you can use for this purpose.
(A copy of the form, “FMLA Leave to Care for a Family Member,” is also in
Appendix C and on the CD-ROM at the back of this book.)