Sreeparna Chakrabarty By

NEW DELHI: Women who adopt children do not get full maternity benefits and leave. To address this, the government has initiated the process of extending full maternity leave benefits to adoptive mothers.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has written to the Ministry of Labour to extend full maternity benefits to mothers who adopt children. Sources said that though the Ministry of Labour had agreed to the proposal in principle, it would hold consultations with stakeholders before moving ahead.

As of now, adoptive mothers, who are Central government employees, are eligible to 180 days of maternity leave, but only if they have less than two children at the time of adoption and if she adopts a child who is less than a year old. In the private sector, leave for adoptive mothers is at the discretion of the employer.