Paid parental leave is a paid break from work that an employee can receive after they or their significant other has given birth. Currently, the Family Medical Plan Act creates a twelve week unpaid leave to be provided federally for new parent. It is the parent’s personal decision whether or not the take the full twelve weeks off. There are no parameters for how long a paid leave must be at minimum, so it is entirely up to employers to pay their workers if they take leaves and for how long. Unfortunately there are many parents that cannot afford to take all twelve weeks off, which can deprive the parents and their newborn of some of the benefits that come with leaves. When parents are on leaves they can form a stronger bond with their child from earlier on. They also provide more time for the infant to breastfeed, which is healthier for babies. Paid parental leaves have been shown to lower infant mortality rates. It can be seen that providing a paid leave to new parents is beneficial not only to the parents, but it also better for the health of the newborn. It is beneficial that these leaves are paid because it creates less stress on the family if they do not have to worry about income while they are taking care of their newborn. Having stress can impede on how parents and children bond during infantry. …show more content…
Being on a paid leave is helpful in forming one at the right time. In an interview with Dr. Benard Dreyer, behavioral and developmental pediatrician, he talks about the benefits that paid leaves provide on the whole family. According to Dr. Dreyer, “There's very strong evidence that family leave decreases maternal depression. This is key, because maternal depression prevents mother-infant bonding...”. He also adds that it is good for fathers to receive a break too because it will provide early on father-child bonding, thus forming a healthy relationship later