Paid Family Leave

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Paid Family Leave

Paid family leave policies require employers to allow eligible parents to take time off from work to bond with a new child while receiving a portion of their salary. By providing parents with the time and financial security to stay home with a new child, paid family leave can improve both economic security and the health and wellbeing of children and parents.

Featured Resources

2025 Roadmap Profile: Paid Family and Medical Leave

Paid family and medical leave programs providing a minimum of 6 weeks of leave for all parents with a new child increase access to paid time off from work, reduce racial disparities in leave-taking, boost mothers’ labor force participation, improve maternal mental health, and foster better child-parent relationships and child health.

Webinar Recording: Building the Business Case for Paid Family Leave

Paid family leave is one of the most impactful, yet cost-effective, policies a state can adopt to support infants, toddlers, and their families. Despite the strength of these impacts, it can be challenging to garner support from businesses.

Evidence Review: Paid Family Leave

Studies that examine the causal impact of paid family leave policies find that providing at least 6 weeks of paid leave to parents with a new child increases the length and likelihood of leave-taking, increases mothers’ labor force participation rates, improves mothers’ mental health, and fosters better child-parent relationships and child health.

Related Resources

State Policy Progress on Paid Family and Medical Leave in 2025

Paid family and medical leave (PFML) is one of several evidence-based policies in our 2025 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, which details states’ progress toward adopting and implementing policies that effectively improve child and family wellbeing.

2025 National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit

Did you miss the Summit? Click here to access the full recording.

A Tale of Two States: The Impact of State Policy Choices on Family Resources

Since the release of our 2020 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, every state has increased their investment in at least one effective Roadmap policy, but the choices they have made vary considerably. The distinct choices that

Funding Mechanisms for State Paid Family and Medical Leave Programs

Learn how statewide paid family and medical leave (PFML) programs are financed through payroll contributions from workers and employers. This policy brief explores key decisions for funding PFML programs, including start-up funding, premium contributions, rate determination, and wage coverage.

State policy progress on paid family and medical leave in 2024

Paid family and medical leave (PFML) is one of 12 evidence-based policies in our 2024 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, which details states’ progress toward adopting and implementing policies that effectively improve child and family wellbeing.

State Policies to Reduce Disparities in Childhood Poverty: A Summary of the Evidence

Financial hardship in early childhood can disrupt healthy brain development and compromise the foundation for long-term development and wellbeing. Because of discrimination in employment and education as well as unequal opportunities to build wealth, Black,