Hi!
My partner and I are on stage two of adoption and have been asked by our social worker who is taking the leave. My partner and I are both females and our workplaces both offer the basic Adoption Leave.
Our social worker asked who would take the leave, we then said we'd split this equally (6 months each) so we both get time with the child. Our social worker said ideally it should be one person as this could be confusing for the child.
I work at home predominantly (37 hours Monday to Friday) and I go into the office 1 day a week. My partner works 40 hours, Monday to Friday but some Saturdays. She doesn't have an office and has to work at home.
So our social worker said what will we do after the adoption leave, we said it obviously depends on the age of the child as they may be at school. Our social worker asked us to hypothetically think of the child as a 2 year old not at school. I advised I could still care for the child as I am working, as my workplace is flexible so e.g. I can watch a film and type. The social worker said this would never work, as the child would want the attention on them 24/7. The social worker also asked what my partner would do, as she is on calls all day at work. We advised that she could work upstairs in the bedroom, but the social worker advised that this would be even worse as the child would feel neglected not being able to speak to their other mother, despite her being in the house.
We asked for their advice as we felt stuck and they did not say anything helpful just that I could go to the office everyday and my partner could give up her job even though they told her to get a permanent job a few months ago.
Does anybody have any advice for us, as we do not know how to solve this predicament?