Single mums win battle for joint parental leave after birth or adoption

SINGLE mums in the Basque Country have championed a ruling which means they and their children will benefit from maternity and paternity leave after birth.

Lone mothers have been campaigning for this for some time, pointing out that a child born to two parents of opposite sexes has the mother's full attention for the first 16 weeks, and either the father's at the same time or after the mother goes back to work.

The government has been planning to increase paternity leave to 16 weeks – barely four years ago, men only had two weeks off for the birth of their babies or the arrival of a new adopted or foster child, giving them hardly any time to take an active part in early care and missing out on most of their offspring's babyhood.

It also meant that, as newborns still need round-the-clock care after the first 16 weeks of life, it tended to be the mothers who had to give up their jobs, take extended unpaid leave or slash their hours to the minimum.

Paternity leave was gradually increased, firstly to four weeks, then to eight, with a view to its becoming the same as the mother's, and always with the option to take it after the mum goes back to work – but cannot be transferred to her.

It remains unclear how this works for same-sex parents: In theory, two mums would get 16 weeks off each, or 32 in total if taken separately, but two dads would have only had a total of between one month and 16 weeks between them.

And single parents say they have long been 'the forgotten entity' when it comes to legislating over the balance between work and family life; more importantly, the children of single parents are the ones who get the raw deal.

They say that a child of two parents will be cared for 24 hours a day for 32 weeks before they are sent to nursery or the family finances are reduced by one or both reducing working hours, but kids born to one parent only have half this period to 'be a full-time baby' before going into day care.

The Basque regional High Court of Justice has formally recognised the right of a single mum who filed a claim for maternity and paternity leave, and the verdict has been applauded by the Federation of Single Mothers' Associations (FAMS).

Its representatives point out that in accordance with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 39 of the Spanish Constitution, the child's interests must always come first in any legal decision – and it is clearly in the best interests of any child to have a full-time parent on full pay when they first come into the world, and for this period not to be halved for reasons beyond the child's own control.

More and more women, especially, are choosing to become single mothers, since their only other choice, if they are not in a loving, stable relationship already, is to 'rush into' a partnership with someone who may not be for them, just so they can have children before Mother Nature takes their choice away.

Fertility treatment on the health service for single mums and lesbians is only available up to age 40, and beyond this, the costs are high and the odds increasingly lower.

Whilst IVF clinics will allow women aged up to and including 50 to become mums through their own, previously-frozen eggs or embryos, if they have not taken this course of action in time, completely anonymous donor eggs or embryos is the only way forward and the cut-off age is still 50 years and 364 days.

But many want to have a child of their own flesh and blood, or at least, to know something about the child's biological origins beyond just their basic physical appearance – which is not an option under Spanish law as recipients are not allowed to choose their egg, sperm or embryo donors, make any stipulations about them, or even have any knowledge of their characteristics, personality or family tree.

As a result, a growing number of women worldwide are deciding to be mothers when their age, rather than their relationship status, permits them to – and when they are young enough to have the best chance possible of a pregnancy and live birth.

“We need the justice system and laws to progress more and keep up with the realities of family and society,” says FAMS.

Luckily in Spain, much progress has been made in this area: No barriers, other than financial for those over 40, are in place for anyone who wants to become a mum but does not have a partner; all-female couples can both register as their child's legal parent, and if they are biologically able to do so, one partner can carry a child conceived with the other's eggs.

Men still have a far more difficult time, since they cannot have a biological child without there being a legal figure of a mother – surrogacy is against the law in Spain under all circumstances, and an all-male couple can only both be parents of their child if they adopt him or her.

Although the new ruling comes from the Basque regional court, it forces the national Social Security and Treasury to pay the claimant for maternity and paternity leave, and is likely to set a precedent nationwide.