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Parenting: newborns to toddlers
LifestyleFamily & Relationships

Why adoption leave is vital for an adopted child’s development, and why Hong Kong parental laws need serious overhaul

  • It is essential for adoptive parents to spend time with their new child to establish a bond and gain trust
  • Hong Kong laws don’t allow for this, but companies are starting to offer parental leave and flexible hours

Reading Time:5 minutes
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Chloe and Nick Banks with their adopted son. Adoptive parents need to spend time with their new children to build trust and a strong bond. The lack of adoptive work leave makes this difficult. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Angela Baura

Two days after welcoming home their first child in December 2010, Faith Seet and her husband returned to work. The Hong Kong-based couple craved bonding time with their four-month-old baby, but their employers’ parental leave policies did not extend to adoptive parents.

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Seet, a schoolteacher, relied on her mother and sister flying in from Singapore to mind the baby. When she travelled overseas for work for five days and her family could not fly to Hong Kong, she asked a student’s parents to babysit.

“It was really hard. We don’t have family here and didn’t know enough people to reach out to for help when we were at work,” says the mother-of-two, who received one day of paid leave six months later to attend court and finalise the adoption process.

The adoption of the couple’s second child in 2013 came as her husband took a career break from his regional sales role, Seet says. The transition was easier because he was able to spend time bonding with their five-month-old baby.

Now teaching at a different school, Seet appreciated the principal’s willingness to let her work flexible hours. She was given three days’ leave to attend the court hearing and visit her relatives in Singapore.

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“The concept of adoption has a fairly low level of awareness in Hong Kong and, as only a small number of families are built through adoption each year, many companies haven’t considered introducing adoption-friendly workplace policies,” says Alia Eyres, CEO of Mother’s Choice, a local charity serving children without families and pregnant teenagers in Hong Kong. “Decisions are often made on a case-by-case basis, sometimes granting adoptive parents the same amount of leave as maternity or paternity leave.”
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