I live in MN and have been struggling to figure out the specifics on qualifying for Paid Leave based on an adoption out of foster care. I am trying to figure out whether foster placement and adoption date are considered separate qualifying events. We have been fostering our child for ~2 years but will be adopting in likely March of 2026. Will I be eligible? I have read the official website and also called DEED (they said I would be eligible after submitting adoption certificate) but online I seem to be seeing that a “placement date” is what is used for determining qualification. Thanks in advance!
Your best bet is to create an applicant account and submit to the portal once they start accepting requests next week when it opens and go through the process and see what documents and dates it's asking for. You have to submit soon anyway for March, so the sooner you start the process, the better. It's new to everyone, so we'll be working out the kinks for a while.
Thank you! I will do that when it opens, good suggestion. My understanding is that I won’t be able to submit until after the actual adoption though, because that is when we get the adoption certificate?
I don't know. I think you start the process now and see what questions it asks you. It may ask for a projected date. One of the pieces is to give notice if you can. In this case you can certainly give some sort of notice if you have a projected date.
I would just go through the process to see what questions it's asking. You don't have to submit if it's requiring something you don't have.
I mean… this is a gray area that can go either way. I do not think they would decide in your favor. The child isn’t being placed with you for foster or adoption in March, so I don’t think you are eligible. The intention of the leave is for bonding with a child who was recently joined your family through birth or placed with you for foster or adoption. This child has lived with you for years and so this isn’t a need for bonding leave. Adoption of a child recently born or one you finally get to bring home from a foreign country is the intended purpose, not one you have raised for years.