While the legal and financial assistance were essential in helping Phil adopt his daughter, the biggest benefit to his family doesn’t necessarily show up on paper. The thoroughness of the support helped streamline a very stressful and emotional time for his family.
Phil and his family
With the recent addition of Maven to ScottsMiracle-Gro’s LiveTotal Health benefits, U.S. full-time associates have access to a full toolkit of resources as they consider their pathway to parenthood.
While Maven is a new resource, the company’s focus on family is a part of its DNA. Our associate, Phil, who works for our subsidiary Hawthorne, knows firsthand how important family is to the company, because adoption benefits helped him start his.
Before Phil married his wife, there was one thing he had to do.
One thing he wanted to do.
He made a promise to his future mother-in-law. He would adopt his wife’s daughter and become a dad.
Adoption can be expensive and complex. Step-parent adoption can become even more complicated when locating the birth father is part of the process. Phil was unsure if he’d be able to access company benefits for a step-parent adoption, but after contacting HR, he quickly found out he qualified.
Soon after, Phil learned that the company’s adoption benefits provided assistance on several aspects of the process, from a dedicated adoption lawyer and financial assistance to identifying all of the necessary legal steps for a step-parent adoption. Phil and his family had also recently moved from Colorado to Georgia, so he received additional support in understanding state to state laws and requirements.
While the legal and financial assistance were essential in helping Phil adopt his daughter, the biggest benefit to his family doesn’t necessarily show up on paper. The thoroughness of the support helped streamline a very stressful and emotional time for his family.
As the adoption process became complete, Phil was confident all of the paperwork was correct and final, and he ended up only having to pay a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket. More importantly, his family was able to grow and he kept the promise he made when his family was just getting started. Phil’s family grew a bit more during the adoption when he and his wife had twins!
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