Increasing Adoption Leave from 12 Weeks to 16 Weeks

Mr Foo Cexiang asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether the Ministry will consider increasing adoption leave from 12 weeks to 16 weeks, to align it with maternity leave; and (b) if not, what are the policy considerations militating against such an enhancement.

Mr Speaker, biological mothers are entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave while adoptive mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of adoption leave. The duration of maternity leave is longer, by a month, as biological mothers require more time to recuperate physically from childbirth.

Adoptive parents, otherwise, receive the same parental and childcare leave benefits as biological parents today. This includes the new 10-week Shared Parental Leave scheme, which was introduced last year to encourage shared parental responsibility and provide more time for parents to care for and bond with their newborns.

Thank you, Speaker. And I thank the Minister. We celebrate Mother's Day over the weekend. I said it once and I will say it again – our parents of adopted children are super parents and the moms are certainly super moms. So, I would like to ask the Ministry whether it will consider the perspective that, notwithstanding the adopted mom not being the birth mom, would we not give them more time to bond with their baby or with their child?

After all, the Ministry of Social and Family Development's policy is also to encourage parents who would like to adopt a second child, a gap of nine months from the first child, precisely so that they can bond more with the first child.

In considering the duration of leave, we will look at the need. In this case, as I have explained, there is a difference between those who give birth physically to a child and those who adopt. We are not closed to considering fresh ideas or initiatives, but I think the key consideration must always be what is the need and what we want to support, and what is actually required.