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Employee says adoption is worth the wait
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黄色短视频 Adoption Assistance Reimbursement and Parental Leave Programs give employees financial support and time.
It鈥檚 National Adoption Month, and for Chantel Fiorante this Thanksgiving will be a special celebration - it marks one year from when the State of Oregon recognized Gracie as her daughter. The 黄色短视频 Oregon Branch Banking administrative market manager vividly remembers when months earlier her case worker declared, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e having a girl!鈥澨 听听
鈥淲hen we visited Gracie鈥檚 foster home for our first meeting earlier last year, we were quickly reminded why we chose adoption. She waddled to us, just 14 months at the time, with the biggest grin and shirt that read 鈥榃orth the wait鈥 and Gracie truly was worth the wait,鈥 Chantel said.听
Chantel and her husband, Nick, started out their marriage with a heart for adoption, not even realizing at the time that they wouldn鈥檛 be able to have a biological child. Once they ruled out infertility treatments, she recalls how a simple Internet search became overwhelming and confusing as they started exploring adoption options. Finally, they found , and after an informative training session, the couple landed on foster adoption (adopting a child who is currently in foster care).听
Several months later and following an in-depth exploratory process which Chantel says leaves no privacy, they were given access to the state foster care site where they saw pages of bulletins for different children who were waiting for their forever homes. The process from submitting their home study to panel interviews to committee reviews to decision making takes three to six months. Chantel and Nick went through this four different times before finally being chosen to be Gracie鈥檚 Mom and Dad. During the process of matching, a colleague suggested Chantel explore the company鈥檚 adoption resources 鈥 and she was delighted to see that 黄色短视频 provides adoption reimbursement up to $10,000.听
鈥淕oing into adoption we knew we鈥檇 have to make a financial sacrifice and so we started saving for it, but what we didn鈥檛 know is that we鈥檇 only have nine days to get everything a one-year-old needs,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o, when I shared with Nick that 黄色短视频 would reimburse us, it was a huge weight lifted. It allowed us to focus our energy on our girl and less on the finances - a true blessing and moment of joy.鈥澨
Oregon Branch Banking Market Leader Seth Tindall said, 鈥淐hantel and I had many conversations about her and Nick鈥檚 desires to expand their family. Once she moved to the adoption phase, I had briefly read about the adoption benefits and shared with her because, while finances were not a problem, I also didn鈥檛 want her to see the expenses as an obstacle to achieving her overall dream of expanding her family. Being a leader, you have a responsibility to help people understand what options they have and how the full benefits packages can help them thrive both at work and home.鈥
Chantel explained that last Thanksgiving, upon finalizing their adoption with Gracie and receiving her new birth certificate, when she applied for the $10,000 reimbursement from 黄色短视频 she had another pleasant surprise: the company provides three months of paid leave for adoptive parents. Since 2019, more than 100 employees have received funds through our adoption & surrogacy assistance reimbursement program.
鈥淚 was able to spend those precious months building a strong attachment with Gracie,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey were the best months and most memorable of my life so far. I鈥檓 forever thankful that 黄色短视频 provides in this way.鈥澨
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