Adoption Employee Benefits Help Families Bring Children into Homes

Added benefit puts Unum on 2022 Best Workplaces List 

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (October 6, 2022) – Unum (UNM) has been recognized by the Dave Thomas Foundation among the 2022 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces™. Unum provides employees with $25,000 and inclusive parental bonding leave for adoption, the birth of a child, surrogacy, or foster care for all genders. The foundation’s survey found most employers offer half that amount, about $12,000, in financial reimbursement and paid leave for adoption.

Unum’s benefit was a tremendous help to Unum employee, Jaime Thibodeau, and her husband. In 2016, the Thibodeau’s stepped off the plane in Haiti ready to bond with their soon-to-be daughter, Tarah. She was five and had been living in an orphanage since the age of three. The Thibodeau’s already had a 16-year-old biological son and wanted to add to their family. They waited almost four years while completing the complicated, and often emotional, adoption process.

It was the support of those of her friends, family, and co-workers, as well as the adoption and leave benefits from her employer Unum, that helped fulfill the Thibodeau’s adoption dream.

Costs for a domestic adoption can rise to as much as $45,000, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway. For parents like Jaime Thibodeau who chose an international adoption, it can skyrocket above $50,000 not including travel and lodging expenses.

 “We're fortunate to be with a company that supports flexibility and family. This benefit makes it easier for people to bring a child into their home,” Thibodeau said.

Unum offers employees additional workplace benefits, such as a working parent’s network, education plan contributions and pre-tax childcare savings, competitive paid time off and student debt relief.