One Year Pilot Program: Parental Teaching Release Program for "Parent/Child Bonding" by UW Faculty

This option is being piloted in select schools/colleges from Autumn 2007 through Spring 2008 as part of the Balance@UW Initiative. Through this pilot, Balance@UW will gather necessary information both to perform a cost-benefit analysis, and to inform the University's decision with regard to prioritization and implementation of such a family-friendly policy in the future. As such, faculty who participate in the program must be willing to participate in a confidential evaluation process. The pilot is being implemented at the school/college level. Check here see if your school/college/campus is participating and to find your liaison.

Background:
The UW won a 2006 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation "Flexible Faculty Career Award" and created Balance@UW to implement eight initial project goals. One of the goals is to create a new option for biological fathers and adoptive parents that will increase flexibility in work for faculty, who otherwise would need to come to campus for formal classroom instruction, to bond with a new child. The UW allows faculty members who are biological mothers to use up to 90 days of paid sick leave for birth, but has no option beyond those involving unpaid leave (e.g., The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)) for faculty who are either biological fathers, non-biological parents in a same-sex relationship, or adoptive/foster parents.

What is bonding? Bonding has been defined as "the process that a child goes through in developing lasting emotional ties with its immediate caregivers, which is seen as the first and most significant developmental task of a human being, and is central to that person's ability to relate properly to others throughout its life" (http://glossary.adoption.com/bonding.html).

Basic Policy Details (check with your school/college/campus liaison for details)
--Thirty to ninety consecutive days of instructional release from formal, didactic classroom instruction assignments (i.e., between one calendar month and a full quarter) within a single quarter (excluding summer) for the purpose of bonding with a child who is "new" to the faculty member. The faculty member is expected to continue all other duties and responsibilities.

--Available to any professorial faculty member (i.e., Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Assistant Professor WOT, Associate Professor WOT, Professor WOT, Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, and Research Professor) who is a biological father or a non-biological parent in a same-sex relationship, or to any faculty member with whom there is a placement of a child for adoption or foster care. Biological mothers who utilized sick leave for birth/bonding are not currently eligible.

--The instructional release must be taken and concluded: (a) for biological children, within one year after the child's birth, or (b) for adoptive or foster children, within one year of placement.

--No restrictions on couples, but couples in the same department/unit shall coordinate with the chair/director to establish an equitable arrangement.

To Request a Parental Teaching Release:
--Complete the Parental Teaching Release Request Form (Word) and submit it to your department/unit chair. The name and email address of your school/college/campus liaison can be found here.

--Faculty are encouraged to begin discussions as soon as possible with the unit/department to arrange for teaching coverage or alternative instructional adjustments.

--Faculty shall provide department chairs or unit heads at least 30 days advance notice if the need for the teaching release is foreseeable based on an expected birth or placement in order to permit obtainment of teaching coverage or alternative instructional adjustments. Obviously, it is understood that situations involving adoptive or foster children frequently receive little notice of the availability of a child.

--Faculty are encouraged to offer suggestions for appropriate teaching coverage or alternative instructional adjustments when they request the parental teaching release.

--Faculty who participate in the pilot must agree to participate in a confidential evaluation process.

Participating Schools/Colleges/Campuses:

School/College/Campus	Liaison	Email
Bothell	Martha Groom	groom@u.washington.edu
College of Architecture and Urban Planning	Alex Anderson	ata@u.washington.edu
College of Arts & Sciences	Judy Howard	jhoward@u.washington.edu
College of Engineering	Eve Riskin	riskin@u.washington.edu
College of Forest Resources	Beverly Anderson	bja@u.washington.edu
College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences	Laurie Bryan	lbryan@ocean.washington.edu
Evans School of Public Affairs	Joan Goldblatt	joangold@u.washington.edu
Information School	Alisha LaPlante	alishab@u.washington.edu
School of Dentistry	Kathy Dickeman	dickeman@u.washington.edu
School of Nursing	Ashley Wiggin	aaw4@u.washington.edu
School of Pharmacy	Gail Viscione	viscione@u.washington.edu
School of Public Health and Community Medicine	Bridget Doyle	badw@u.washington.edu
School of Social Work	Mary Grembowski	mwg@u.washington.edu
Tacoma	Shelby Fritz	sfritz@u.washington.edu