Facilities for faculty, staff and students with children and elderly parents — offered jointly by Human Resources, the Provost’s office and Business Services — have expanded recently to allow a better balance between the personal and professional.
Penn announced a partnership in January with Massachusetts-based babysitting and in-home caretaker organization Parents In a Pinch, Inc.
All Parents in a Pinch care is subsidized by the University, although fees vary depending on salary and amount of use, according to Human Resources Director Marilyn Kraut.
Penn Behavioral Health also provides 24-7 online advice about selecting family care resources — both for child care and for elder care — according to Kraut.
“The leadership cares about the faculty — that’s our talent, that’s our product. The more support we give, the more productive they are,” Kraut said.
“We also recognized that there were still parents at Penn who were finding it difficult to locate quality, affordable services near the University,” Vice President of Business Services Marie Witt wrote in a statement.
To assist with care options, Penn has recently partnered with two local care centers — the Parent Infant Center located on 42nd and Spruce streets and The Caring Center at 31st and Spring Garden streets.
Faculty and staff adopting children are also now eligible for adoption benefits — with a final decree of adoption, families may receive up to $5000, free from federal tax, to “ease some of that financial burden,” Kraut said.
In the fall, the Penn Children’s center raised the family earning threshold for faculty and staff childcare fee assistance, according to Business Services Spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger.
Penn has also created a family leave policy for doctoral students that allows for continued enrollment and stipend when students adopt or have a child, according to Director of Family Resource Center and Graduate Student Center Anita Mastroieni.
Ph.D. students can take up to eight weeks of paid leave and up to two semesters of unpaid leave. The policy has recently been adjusted to include fathers — the previous version of the policy only included mothers, she explained.
Penn’s parenting resources are a major draw for new faculty, staff and students, Kraut explained.
“Academics talk to each other, and they know which places are places that are inviting and supportive,” she said.
The biggest challenge, according to Kraut, is that “people don’t realize what we have. There are such rich benefits and resources, and it’s hard to get people’s attention until the situation strikes.”
