Fostering and Home for Life: A guide for NZ employers

Foster care provides safe, temporary homes for vulnerable children. Some foster arrangements become permanent through Home for Life placements or permanent care orders. Supporting employees who open their homes to these children demonstrates your commitment to family-friendly workplace practices.

In New Zealand, over 5,000 children are in foster care at any given time, with around 300-400 children transitioning to permanent Home for Life placements annually. Given these numbers, employers are increasingly encountering these situations in their workplaces.

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Statutory entitlements

Temporary fostering

For short-term or emergency foster placements:

• Employees are not entitled to parental leave entitlements.

• They may use annual leave, unpaid leave, or flexible working arrangements.

• Some collective agreements or workplace policies provide special foster care leave.

Permanent fostering and Home for Life

Employees who become permanent caregivers for a child under 6 years old are eligible for parental leave entitlements:

• This includes "Home for Life" placements and permanent fostering arrangements.

• For qualifying permanent arrangements, standard parental leave entitlements apply, such as:

  • Up to 26 weeks of primary carer leave

  • Up to 26 weeks of government-paid parental leave (if eligible)

  • Partner's leave (1-2 weeks)

  • Extended leave (up to 26 or 52 weeks)

• Entitlements begin when the employee assumes care of the child.

Potential upcoming changes

The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (currently progressing through Parliament) includes changes that would give non-biological parents, including adoptive parents, more flexibility:

• It would clarify that eligible employees can stop working within a reasonable period of becoming the primary carer of a child under the age of six rather than having to stop working immediately when they become a primary carer.

• This change would particularly benefit those who take on the care of a child unexpectedly or through informal arrangements that later become formalised.

• Under the current rules, some adoptive parents have been declined parental leave payments because they did not take parental leave or stop working from the exact date they became the child's primary carer.

Best practices for employers

While statutory entitlements remain the same, employers can acknowledge the additional challenges of multiple births through supportive policies.

For temporary fostering

• Flexible work arrangements: Offer flexitime, compressed workweeks, or remote work options

• Short-notice leave provisions: Create policies for emergency placements

For permanent fostering and Home for Life

• Flexible timing: Allow for adjustable start dates for leave

• Bonding time: Consider offering leave for relationship-building before the official placement

• Extended leave options: Offer additional leave beyond statutory requirements

• Return-to-work flexibility: Support phased returns or alternative arrangements

Creating a supportive policy

An inclusive parental leave policy explicitly addresses fostering:

• Distinguish between temporary and permanent placements

• Clarify eligibility for parental leave entitlements

• Outline any additional support your organisation offers

• Consider how to support emergency or short-notice placements

• Include links to relevant support resources, such as Caring Families Aotearoa and Oranga Tamariki

Need a hand improving your policy or modelling the cost?

Gain our insights from creating the largest NZ database of verified parental leave policies, a growing number of which include provisions to support employees fostering children.

👉 Use the Parental Leave Costing Tool

👉 Book a free policy review

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Now for the important legal part: The information we provide is general and not regulated financial advice for the purposes of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. Please seek independent legal, financial, tax or other advice in considering whether the content in this article is appropriate for your goals, situation or needs. The information in this article is current as at 7 April 2025.

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Stephanie Pow

Founder & CEO of Crayon

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