When Josh Israel and his husband adopted their son in 2016, he was given 12 weeks of paid parental leave to care for their newborn. Being a first-time parent was terrifying at first, he said, but being able to take time off gave him time to bond with and care for his son.
“I think most of all it gave me the confidence to feel like ‘I’ve got this’,” Israel says. “The first few weeks was about figuring things out, and having to be the one who feeds him, puts him to sleep, and just having one-on-one time, enabled me to build a unique relationship with my son.”
