The Impact of the Current Paid Parental Leave Scheme

In late 2019 Miracle Babies Foundation partnered with the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Institute to conduct a survey of families to advocate for changes to the legislation. Over the years we have increased our advocacy efforts to make this a priority for the Australian Government.

In 2023 we conducted a national petition which received over 10,000 signatures in just 4 weeks. This was presented to Parliament and since then we have been in ongoing meetings and events with politicians to advocate for this call to action and change current legislation to provide an additional paid parental leave for neonatal parents with a baby in specialised medical care over 2 weeks.

“We are advocating for changes that will support the whole family unit. We strongly believe that all babies should be discharged from hospital with the same amount of paid parental leave entitlements as all full term healthy babies. This entitlement should not have to be used while baby is in neonatal care for weeks or months before coming home.” Kylie Pussell OAM, CEO and Co- Founder of Miracle Babies Foundation said.

The research conducted by Miracle Babies Foundation found 83% of families surveyed experienced additional financial impacts on their family above the normal expected impact of having a newborn as a result of having a baby born requiring specialised hospital care. And 95% of mums couldn’t work while their babies were in the Neonatal Unit.

Due to ongoing care requirements, the financial and emotional pressures of having to return to work earlier than planned can cause immense stress to the whole family unit. We know from previous research that parents of preterm babies are 2.5 times more likely to suffer postnatal depression. And one in five parents of very preterm babies still show symptoms of depression and anxiety six months after birth.

The recent Miracle Babies research has established a clear gap in parental leave legislation with more than 99% of families surveyed supporting the introduction of extended parental leave for Neonatal parents.