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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToo Often, a New Baby Brings Big Debt
http://www.thenation.com/article/167897/too-often-new-baby-brings-big-debtWhen it comes to taking time off for a new baby, the best-laid plans often go awry. Sonya Underwood had worked at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, for eleven years before getting pregnant with her third son. As a single mother, she prepared to cover the income she would lose during her unpaid leave, hoarding paid time off and taking out disability insurance. And then real life intervened. Doctors told Underwood that she had an incompetent cervix and put her on bed rest three weeks ahead of schedule. Then her son arrived at twenty-six weeks. The twelve weeks of leave she is guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act soon ran out, as did the insurance, even though her son remained in the NICU. I didnt have any money left, Underwood said. So she went back to work and visited him at the hospital every day.
But once her son came home, Underwoods situation quickly became untenable. Daycare centers wouldnt take a medically fragile baby. Her human resources department informed her that her only choice was more unpaid leave. It didnt help out my situation because I still had rent due, my car note due, utilities, everything else, she said. After she exhausted that leave, she was let go from her job, lost her car and couldnt qualify for unemployment insurance because of her role as her sons caretaker. The only places left to turn were Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and a loan she already knew would be difficult to pay back. Im a victim of FMLA because it didnt help my family, she concluded.
Many new mothers in this country are like Underwood: working women who give birth without guaranteed time to recuperate and care for their babies. Those who take unpaid leave often resort to drastic measures, such as going deep into debt, to make ends meet. Only three federal laws have ever been passed that offer protections for workers with new children. The best known is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires that employers of a certain size allow new parents up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave. No federal law requires employers to provide paid leave to new parents, and eighteen states offer nothing beyond the FMLA. Unsurprisingly, the Census Bureau has found that over 40 percent of new mothers take unpaid leave.
But many workers arent even guaranteed that. Less than half of the countrys private-sector workers are covered by FMLA, which may explain why over a quarter of all workersin situations similar to Underwoodseither quit or are let go of their jobs when they need to take leave.
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Too Often, a New Baby Brings Big Debt (Original Post)
xchrom
May 2012
OP
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)1. this doesn't surprise me.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)2. And for the people saying "Why doesn't she have a husband?"
That ship sailed.
In her position she could have the kid or have an abortion.
Why is choosing life so often equivalent to choosing public assistance and unemployment?
xchrom
(108,903 posts)3. If I think about the 'security' of our nation -
Why is 'Debt' an acceptable option for so many? Especially for young adults, mothers, families?
Wrong isn't the right word any more.
We're Failing.