MP Karina Bosak in the Sejm discusses the bill extending the leave of premature parents, 12 September 2024.
– We've prepared a task on vacations. I have premature babies.
We have addressed this problem due to the fact that we want to aid mothers and their children born prematurely, who, due to their mediocre health, sometimes require infirmary care for many weeks or even months. Then the parents of specified a kid lose the time that maternity leave gives them in the home and must carry out it in the hospital, which has nothing to do with leave. Being in a infirmary is never a privilege, it's a sad necessity. And to number it as maternity leave is to deprive a parent of priceless time spent after the birth of a kid at home.
The subject of maternity leave for premature mothers was the first subject of the gathering of our parliamentary squad on perinatal care. And it was during this gathering that we and the parents of premature children, doctors, midwives and lawyers worked out the most optimal solution. And the goal was simple: the elimination of systemic injustice, with which the families of children of the sick and premature children gotta face from the first days of their life.
The current legal state strengthens the unequal start for both a tiny kid and his parents, who are deprived of the ability to establish and strengthen a relation with the child, to strengthen his sense of safety and to aid him make decently with his parent and father. We want to take care of these children, these parents, and compensate them for the time they were forced to spend with their child's health.
Since the end of 2008, at least 16 years old, the Polish Parliament has been incapable to deal with this problem. possibly no 1 just wanted it. There was not adequate political will or skills to respond to these fundamental needs of citizens. So far, power has been deaf to the voices of the parents of the children who fought for this time, which was systematically taken from them.
Since the beginning of this parliamentary term, politicians have started to deal with the subject of early childhood. On the 1 hand, the challenge was taken by the Confederate Members and on the another hand, the government started and carried out its work on its own project. So we now have 2 projects on this issue. Ours, already deposited in the Sejm on which we are presently sitting, and the government's content, which is available on the website of the Government Legislative Centre.
Unlike the government's draft, we do not make any additional leave, but we are simply changing the way we calculate the dimension of maternity leave due, compensating for this lost time for parents. This makes our task much simpler, shorter and does not require the amendment of all laws referring to the definition of maternity leave – or the institution of maternity leave.
In addition, our task responds better to the problems of the most deprived children, the alleged utmost prematures, providing for a maximum period of up to 24 weeks of leave, and not, as in the draft government, to 15. Our project, despite its complex matter, is simple and actually responds to the most crucial needs of parents.
In our task we propose to amend 2 provisions of the Labour Code by extending maternity leave to a maximum of 24 weeks above the mother's rights under the circumstances. And let us remind you that presently under the Labour Code maternity leave is 20 to 37 weeks. The condition for specified extended leave will be to meet the criteria for hospitalisation of the kid immediately after birth for a minimum of 30 days within 45 days. This solution guarantees that extended maternity leave will apply to children requiring peculiar care, severely sick or prematurely born. And in these extreme, hard cases, the law will not convict parents of the systemic inequality of the failure of weeks or months from their maternity leave.
This task besides includes the fathers of those children who will be granted the right to extended leave in the part not utilized by their mothers. According to the data of the Central Statistical Office in 2022, over 300 1000 births of children took place in Poland, of which more than 20,000, or little than 7%, were premature births, occurring before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Children who were born very early, or before 32 weeks of pregnancy, were estimated over 3,000, and those born highly early about 1.5 thousand. highly early, which is those born before 27 weeks of pregnancy.
Today, the first reading of the bill to compensate the parents of the premature is lost time!
The effect of extended consultation with parents, doctors, midwives and lawyers that I initiated as part of the parliamentary group on perinatal care at the beginning of the year pic.twitter.com/S0RHOlIef8
So the Confederacy is calling for women today, we have prematures, proposing to amend the current rules as a fulfillment of the demands that these families have been looking forward to for respective years and that meet global standards. another European countries specified as Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal and Italy have introduced extended maternity leave into their legislation. It is about time for Poland too. Thank you.
