Dear Sir,

I read with interest the article regarding leave for adoptive parents (March 20, 2026) that offers leave of 13 weeks to adoptive mothers and five days to adoptive fathers.

As I understand it, the wording has raised concerns about discrimination to non-traditional families, such as same-sex fathers or female primary providers. In the interests of gender neutral wording, it was proposed to replace the word “mother“ with “designated parent or legal guardian”. To me, this misses the mark because it wrongly implies the father is not also a designated parent or legal guardian. Concerns were also raised about giving more rights to adoptive parents than biological parents.

I see a simple solution to the problematic wording associated with this welcome legislation.

Follow Ms Cunningham’s proposal and get rid of gendered language. Use the wording “adoptive parents “ instead of “mother “ and “father”. Then, give the adoptive parents a total of 14 weeks parental leave (13 weeks plus five days). Allow the adoptive parents to decide for themselves how they wish to split or share the leave.

I am aware of other countries, such as Canada, where parents (adoptive or biological) can share parental benefits. Giving adoptive parents the freedom to make the best choice for their families just makes sense.

SANDRA FOY

St David’s