Thanks, and Look What California's Up To....

Since I'm just getting in, I want to thank the other bloggers who are helping me learn lingo, do links, etc.--esp you, Danya! Almost about to happen are links to sites that are now linking here, so new friends, please be patient while I learn!

Back to parenting issues. Spoke yesterday with a delightful woman in San Jose who's among the first families to use California's new Paid Family Leave. Does everyone know about it? It's yet another reason so many of us want to live in CA, as opposed to, say, the gritty city of Philadelphia where I so humbly abide. Grit vs. glamour aside, the state of california now provides wage replacement for families who have just had babies, adopted babies, or who have to care for sick family members. The state will replace about 55% of your wages (up to a salary cap in the 60,000 range) for six weeks. Moms and Dads both. And mothers who give birth can also collect state disability insurance in addition (I know, it's weird to classify pregnancy as disability, but this is about real, material assistance....). That's major help. The San Jose woman I spoke with was able to cover her 12 weeks of family leave between the two programs. The stats tell us that most people eligible for FMLA can't afford it, so to have a state that makes family leave affordable is major.

One issue, though, is that not everyone knows about it, and like many things parental and child-related, affluent parents usually have the buzz before everyone else, so spread the word to everyone you know in California. Look here in the future for info on organizations that are doing action alerts in other states about this.

And here's the website if you're reading this and you're in California and you're about to bring a new baby into your family, or you have other reasons for needing some paid relief from work: the general link is www.edd.ca.gov, and for the secret/little-known disability pay after pregnancy, look at www.edd.ca.gov/direp/difaq1.htm#Pregnancy.

That's all for now, have a pleasant night!