Growing Snowflowers

PRAY~PRAY~PRAY



This week is a very important week for our family. In a boardroom somewhere in Eden Prairie Minnesota, several people (suits & ties) will gather to discuss the employee benefits they will offer for the FY2008. Among the topics will be our proposal for 'adoption assistance'. This will be the third time we have submitted a proposal, each time we gather more and more information to support our claim that the company needs to provide parity to it's employees regardless of the means by which they build their families.

It's a complicated issue, but I have spent hours upon hours on the computer researching companies around Minnesota and the Nation, each year more and more choose to support their employees by implementing this type of benefit. Currently the average cost to a company for 'childbirth' expenses is approximately $8500, of course it is much higher if there are complications, multiples or a Cesarean involved. While people who choose to build their family through adoption receive nothing, nada, zip, zero, naught! Implementation of an adoption assistance benefit will help bridge the disparity between employees, taking some of the financial burden off the shoulders of adoptive parents.

Keep in mind the average out of pocket expense to an employee giving birth is $400, many times much less, while the out of pocket expense for adoptive parents averages $25000! Wow, talk about a big difference!

So, if you have but a moment, a few seconds of time, please take a second to concentrate on the little red logo and PRAY for us, for all that follow, and for all the children who will find forever families because someone stood up and shouted...

"what do we want? ADOPTION BENEFITS, when do we want 'em? NOW!"

UPDATE: we found out that the BIG review is in September! So we must have passed through the initial review....keep those prayers coming! We'll be calling for more in a couple of months...by which time, both Mike and I will have ulcers!