Adoption leave by country
What the statute gives an employee who adopts a child, set beside the leave for a birth where the text allows the comparison. Spain stands out with a fixed nineteen weeks per adopter, the same as after a birth, and thirty-two weeks for a single adopter; Austria gives only six months when the child is already past its second birthday. Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States put adopters on the same footing as parents of a newborn, though the length they offer ranges from twelve workweeks to three years.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
United States: federal law only. State law is not compared.
| Country | Length for adopters | Same as after a birth? | When it must be taken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Karenz as for a birth if the child is under 2; 6 months if adopted between ages 2 and 7 | Yes for a child under 2 (§§ 15 to 15b apply); shorter for an older child | From the day of adoption or taking into care |
| Australia | 12 months, unpaid | Yes: one entitlement for birth and placement for adoption | Must start and end within 24 months of the placement |
| Canada | Up to 63 weeks | Same parental leave as for a newborn child | Within the 78-week period from the day the child comes into the employee’s care |
| Germany | Up to 3 years | Yes: the same three years as for a birth, counted from taking the child in | From taking the child in, at most until the child’s 8th birthday |
| Spain | 19 weeks for each adopter; 32 weeks for a single adopter | Yes: birth also gives 19 weeks | Six weeks straight after the adoption decision; the rest within 12 months of it |
| Japan | Childcare leave for a child under 1 year old | Yes: the law treats a child in special-adoption proceedings or placed with the worker as the worker’s child | |
| Norway | Same parental leave as for a birth (12 months for the parents together) plus 2 weeks at the time of taking the child in | Yes: adoptive and foster parents have the leave the section gives the parents | From when the care of the child is taken over |
| Sweden | Full leave for 18 months | Yes: a parent has full leave until the child is 18 months | From when the child comes into the employee’s care; ends when the child is 8 or has finished the first school year, if later |
| United States | 12 workweeks in a 12-month period | Yes: birth and placement for adoption share one 12-workweek entitlement | Expires 12 months after the placement |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- Mutterschutzgesetz 1979 § 15c
- The section covers an employee who adopts or takes a child into unpaid care and lives with the child in one household. It speaks of the mother (Dienstnehmerin); the father’s equivalent is in the Väter-Karenzgesetz, which this guide does not summarise.
Eine Dienstnehmerin, die ein Kind, welches das zweite Lebensjahr noch nicht vollendet hat,Die §§ 15 bis 15b sind mit folgenden Abweichungen anzuwendenhat die Dienstnehmerin Anspruch auf Karenz in der Dauer von sechs Monaten Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009 ss. 70 and 71
- Applies to an employee who has or will have responsibility for the care of the child. The leave is a single continuous period.
An employee is entitled to 12 months of unpaid parental leave if: (a) the leave is associated with: (i) the birth of a child of the employee or the employee’s spouse or de facto partner; or (ii) the placement of a child with the employee for adoption If the leave is adoption ‑ related leave, the period of leave must start and end during the 24 ‑ month period starting on the day of placement of the child Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code s. 206.1
- Federal-sector employees only. The 78-week window can be extended in the cases the section lists (for example the child’s hospital stay, up to 104 weeks).
every employee is entitled to and shall be granted a leave of absence from employment of up to 63 weeks to care for a newborn child of the employee or a child who is in the care of the employee for the purpose of adoptionin the case of an adoption, on the day the child comes into the actual care of the employeeThe leave of absence granted under this section may only be taken during the 78-week period Germany
- Rule
- BEEG § 15
- Applies to employees living in one household with the child and caring for it themselves. Either parent may take it alone, or both together.
Bei einem angenommenen Kind und bei einem Kind in Vollzeit- oder Adoptionspflege kann Elternzeit von insgesamt bis zu drei Jahren ab der Aufnahme bei der berechtigten Person, längstens bis zur Vollendung des achten Lebensjahres des Kindes genommen werdenDie Elternzeit kann, auch anteilig, von jedem Elternteil allein oder von beiden Elternteilen gemeinsam genommen werden Spain
- Rule
- Estatuto de los Trabajadores art. 48.4 and 48.5
- The right is individual to each adopter, guardian or foster carer and cannot be passed to the other. Where an international adoption needs travel first, the leave may start up to four weeks before the decision.
El nacimiento, que comprende el parto y el cuidado de menor, suspenderá el contrato de trabajo de la madre biológica y el del progenitor distinto de la madre biológica durante diecinueve semanasla suspensión tendrá una duración de diecinueve semanas para cada adoptante, guardador o acogedorel periodo de suspensión será de treinta y dos semanasdentro de los doce meses siguientes a la resolución judicial por la que se constituya la adopciónEste derecho es individual de la persona trabajadora sin que pueda transferirse su ejercicio al otro adoptante, guardador con fines de adopción o acogedor Japan
- Rule
- 育児・介護休業法 第2条 and 第5条
- Section 2 widens “child” to include a child the worker has asked the family court to adopt under a special adoption and cares for, and a child entrusted to the worker as an adoptive foster parent. Section 5 gives childcare leave for the child the worker raises who is under one year old (extensions to 1.5 and 2 years apply only in the listed cases).
- The window for taking the leave is not stated in the quoted passages, so that column is left blank.
その子（民法（明治二十九年法律第八十九号）第八百十七条の二第一項の規定により特別養子縁組の成立について家庭裁判所に請求した者養子縁組里親である労働者に委託されている児童 労働者は、その養育する一歳に満たない子について、その事業主に申し出ることにより、育児休業 Norway
- Rule
- Arbeidsmiljøloven §§ 12-3 and 12-5
- Neither right applies to a stepchild adoption or if the child is over 15 years old.
Adoptivforeldre og fosterforeldre har rett til to ukers permisjon i forbindelse med at omsorgen for barnet overtas. Dette gjelder ikke ved stebarnsadopsjon eller hvis barnet er over 15 år Foreldrene har rett til permisjon etter reglene i paragrafen her og i §§ 12-2 og 12-4 i til sammen tolv månederAdoptivforeldre og fosterforeldre har rett til permisjon etter paragrafen her når omsorgen for barnet overtas Sweden
- Rule
- Föräldraledighetslag (1995:584) 5 §
- The 18 months run from the moment the employee receives the child, not from the child’s birth. Adoption of a spouse’s or partner’s child gives no extra leave.
En arbetstagare som har adopterat ett barn eller tagit emot ett barn i avsikt att adoptera det har rätt att vara helt ledig i 18 månader från den tidpunkt då arbetstagaren fick barnet i sin vårdEn förälder har rätt att vara helt ledig för vård av barn till dess barnet är 18 månaderArbetstagarens rätt till sådan ledighet upphör dock när barnet har fyllt åtta år eller vid den senare tidpunkt då barnet har avslutat det första skolåret United States
- Rule
- Family and Medical Leave Act 29 U.S.C. § 2612
- Federal law only. Only eligible employees are covered, and the section also covers foster care placement. Leave for birth or placement is not taken intermittently unless the employer agrees (§ 2612(b)).
(A) Because of the birth of a son or daughter of the employee and in order to care for such son or daughter. (B) Because of the placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster carean eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month periodshall expire at the end of the 12-month period beginning on the date of such birth or placement Countries not in this table yet
The United Kingdom is left out because its adoption leave periods are set by regulations that are not ingested (Employment Rights Act 1996 ss. 75A and 75B only delegate the periods). France and the Netherlands are left out because no ingested section states adoption leave.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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LawAsked, “Adoption leave by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/adoption-leave-by-country (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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