Report: Ruling Affects 100K Kids

A report from the Williams Institute estimates that as many as 100,000 children could be affected by a new federal ruling that extends the Family and Medical Leave Act to allow employees to take unpaid leave to care for children of a same-sex partner, even if the employee has not legally adopted the children.

According to a news release from the Williams Institute, as many as 100,000 newborn or sick children in 50,000 families will be able to access a second parent's time to care for them as a result of the U.S. Labor Department ruling announced Monday.

However, the ruling does not allow employees to take time to care for a same-sex partner because the Defense of Marriage Act bans federal recognition of same-sex partners.

"The report notes that revising the federal law to allow employees to take unpaid leave to care for their same-sex partners would affect 215,000 families," says the news release. "Approximately 430,000 individuals would gain the ability to provide greater levels of care for their same-sex partners. The report uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to calculate the numbers of families affected."

Read a full copy of the report from the Williams Institute here.